Objectives: To improve the rates of surgical activity and average waiting times for surgery, and to optimize the number of surgical indications in the Urology Department of a Regional Hospital.
Methods: A study and analysis of the surgical activity and different indexes in 2014 was performed comparing the first half of the year and the second half after implementation of improvement measures.
Study variables: operating room occupancy rate, average hospital stay, cancellations, surgical complexity, average number of surgeries per operative room, average global waiting time and waiting time by 120 and 180 days guarantee decrees following the Junta de Andalucía standards.
Results: In comparison with the first half of 2014, in the second half the operating room occupancy rate increased from 79% to 85%, the average stay decreased from 6 to 3 days, and a decrease in cancellations from 9% to 6% was observed. Moreover, a decrease in the mean waiting times was observed for surgeries subject to both the 120 days and 180 days guarantee decree and a decrease in the number of surgical indications in urology through the implementation of protocols based on clinical practice guidelines.
Conclusions: Despite the limitations of the study, and being a small Department in a district hospital, we observed that optimization of resources, implementation of protocols, and clinical pathways can improve and optimize different indicators of surgical activity.