ArticleJournal of medical systems2025
Using Performance Frontiers To Evaluate Non-OR Anesthesia (NORA) Efficiency.
Article in Journal of medical systems, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionIn high-cost, high-revenue operating room (OR) suites, dashboards displaying key performance indicators are commonplace to optimize efficiency. Given the significant successes attained, further gains may risk compromising safety. In contrast, challenges unique to non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) sites have hindered operational efficiency. Existing productivity evaluation frameworks often fall short in guiding strategic and tactical improvements in NORA delivery. Performance frontiers have proven effective in evaluating OR systems, but their application to NORA remains unexplored. This study applies performance frontiers to assess NORA site efficiency and formulates potential operational strategies.
methodsWe evaluated anesthesia billing records at our primary hospital from 1 April 2022 to 30 March 2023. Cases from operating room and NORA locations were included, except for sites with irregular volume or financial arrangements. We included only non-holiday weekdays, defining NORA block time as 7 AM to 5 PM. For each room, we calculated under-utilized (time with no anesthesia billing) and over-utilized minutes (time billed outside of NORA block hours). Data for each location were plotted as rolling 4-week sums, normalized to scheduled NORA block time. Performance frontiers were then developed and plotted.
resultsOver 246 non-holiday weekdays, 42,424 cases had billable minutes during NORA block time, comprising 20,003 (47.2%) NORA cases and 22,421 (52.8%) OR cases. Performance frontiers revealed significant variability, with nonparametric tests confirming statistical significance and non-equivalence. DISCUSSION: Performance frontiers reveal substantial efficiency variability across NORA sites, underscoring the need for targeted interventions. Some sites matched OR efficiency levels, while others showed substantial differences, particularly those with high variability and urgency. Efficient sites can leverage performance frontiers to optimize resource allocation, while inefficient locations may benefit from a shared anesthesia resource pool for real-time resource allocation. Performance frontiers provide a novel approach for operational leaders to make more effective strategic decisions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.