The expense of staff with in the operating room is dispersed through a complex calculation of surgical minutes multiplied by productivity standard factor. Staffing for every operating room is charged to the patient or patients insurance by total time in the OR suit, known as units of service (minutes). Staffing costs are calculated based on units of service and productivity standard formula. Cost for staffing changes daily based on units of service adjusting the factor for productivity standard. For example, if an OR produced 3000 units of service multiplied by the productivity standard of .12 = 360 hours of labor cost are allowed for that day. Staffing cannot exceed 360 hours within that surgical day’s schedule. The …show more content…
Staff costs for non-productive employees must be considered to meet financial obligations. Non-productive staff consist of employees on orientation, managers, staff using vacation hours, employee taking education classes, and ancillary staff members not being applied to surgical minutes during the operation. Ancillary staff members include, central sterile supply, nursing assistants, charge nurses, and sterile processing department. Management of productivity is adjusted on a regular basis by offering low census days to employees when the surgical schedule is light or sending staff home when cases are completed. The costs are significant for the operating room environment and surgical minutes are critically necessary to maintain employment levels/standards. Productivity hours aside from costs of staffing an OR it is critical to ensure appropriate staffing for a healthy work environment and evaluate staffing decisions if necessary (McKenna, E., Clement, K., Thompson, E., Haas, K., Weber, W., Wallace, M., Stauffer, C., Frailey. J., Anderson, A., Deascenti, M., Hershiser, L., & Inama-Roda, P., 2011). Outcome of good staffing should provide positive patient outcomes, effective staff, and a reduction of workplace …show more content…
However, nursing assistant working in the OR aren’t taking vital signs or bathing the patients, they are transferring patients, assist in positioning, gathering supplies, and running specimens to the lab, or picking up blood in the blood bank. The key to a happy OR is to turn over cases quickly with safety number one. Nursing assistants clean the rooms between cases, assist the nurse in changing bed position’s for the next surgery, and gather extra pillows or positioning supplies, but, the RN is ultimately responsible for ensuring safety of the OR bed and equipment integrity. Nursing assistants and other ancillary staff are necessary and a huge asset to any