Maximizing Efficiency: A Quality Improvement Project to Improve Inpatient Flow to the Operating Room.

Multiple Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles focused on inpatient-to-OR readiness led to more than 9% improvement in patient flow, enhanced communication between groups, increased awareness of preoperative preparation tasks, and improved trust in OR readiness signals to the preoperative zones.

Further study is needed to determine whether similar interventions would be effective at improving efficiency at other hospitals.