Use of multidisciplinary positive deviance seminars to improve efficiency in a high-volume arthroplasty practice: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Positive deviance (PD) seminars, which have shown excellent results in improving the quality of surgical practices, use individual performance feedback to identify team members who outperform their peers; the strategies from those with exemplary performance are used to improve team members' practices. Our study aimed to use the PD approach with arthroplasty surgeons and nurses to identify multidisciplinary strategies and recommendations to improve operating room (OR) efficiency. METHODS: We recruited 5 surgeons who performed high-volume primary arthroplasty and had participated in 4-joint rooms since 2012, and 29 nurses who had participated in 4-joint rooms and in at least 16 cases in our data set. Three 1-hour PD sessions were held in February and March 2021: 1 with surgeons, 1 with nurses, and 1 with both surgeons and nurses to select recommendations for implementation. The sessions were led by a member of the nonorthopedic surgical faculty who was familiar with the subjects discussed and with PD seminars. To determine the success of the recommendations, we compared OR efficiency before and after implementation. We defined success as performance of 4 joint procedures within 8 hours. RESULTS: Eleven recommendations were recorded from the session with nurses and 7 from the session with surgeons, of which 11 were selected for implementation. During the month after implementation, there were great improvements across all time intervals of surgical procedures, with the greatest improvements seen in mean anesthesia preparation time in the room (4.51 min [26.3%]), mean procedure duration (9.75 min [14.0%]) and mean anesthesia finish time (5.78 min [44.0%]) (all p < 0.001). The total time saved per day was 49.84 minutes; this led to a success rate of 69.0%, a relative increase of 73.8% from our 2012-2020 success rate of 39.7% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The recommendations and increased motivation owing to the individualized feedback reduced time spent per case, allowing more days to finish on time. Positive deviance seminars offer an inexpensive, efficient and collegial means for process improvement in the OR.

Artificial intelligence-driven prescriptive model to optimize team efficiency in a high-volume primary arthroplasty practice.

PURPOSE: We aimed to improve OR efficiency using machine learning (ML) to find relevant metrics influencing surgery time success and team performance on efficiency to create a model which incorporated team, patient, and surgery-related factors. METHODS: From 2012 to 2020, five surgeons, 44 nurses, and 152 anesthesiologists participated in 1199 four joint days (4796 cases): 1461 THA, 1496 TKA, 652 HR, 242 UKA, and 945 others. Patients were 2461f:2335 m; age, 64.1; BMI, 29.93; and ASA, 2.45. Surgical Success was defined as completing four joints within an eight hour shift using one OR. Time data was recorded prospectively using Surgical Information Management Systems. Hospital records provided team, patient demographics, adverse events, and anesthetic. Data mining identified patterns and relationships in higher dimensions. Predictive analytics used ML ranking algorithm to identify important metrics and created decision tree models for benchmarks and success probability. RESULTS: Five variables predicted success: anaesthesia preparation time, surgical preparation time, time of procedure, anesthesia finish time, and type of joint replacement. The model determined success rate with accuracy of 72% and AUC = 0.72. Probability of success based on mean performance was 77-89% (mean-median) if APT 14-15 minutes, PT 68-70 minutes, AFT four to five minutes, and turnover 25-27 minutes. With the above benchmarks maintained, success rate was 59% if surgeon exceeded 71.5-minutes PT or 89% if 64-minutes procedure time or 66% when anesthesiologist spent 17-19.5 minutes on APT. CONCLUSION: AI-ML predicted OR success without increasing resources. Benchmarks track OR performance, demonstrate effects of strategic changes, guide decisions, and provide teamwork improvement opportunities.

Could We See the End of Tobacco Being Sold in Bars and Pubs in New Zealand?

BACKGROUND: Disallowing the sale of tobacco wherever alcohol is consumed is one policy option to help achieve Smokefree 2025. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of selling tobacco in New Zealand (NZ) on-license premises and explore attitudes toward the sale of tobacco. METHODS: A sample of managers of on-license premises were asked by telephone about the importance of tobacco to their business, advantages and disadvantages of selling tobacco, and the impact of not being able to sell tobacco in the future. Logistic and linear regression analyses were used to investigate associations between on-license characteristics and selling status and importance scores, respectively. RESULTS: Of on-license premises, 6.5% (95% CI: 5.3, 8.0) sold tobacco; 17.4% (95% CI: 14.0, 21.4) of hotels, 17.5% (95% CI: 13.8, 21.9) of taverns, and 1.3% (95% CI: 0.6, 3.2) of restaurants. Both retailer type and population density were associated with selling status. On-licenses were more likely to rate tobacco as "unimportant" (51.7%) to their business than "important" (30.0%), although premises where the closest tobacco retailer was at least 1 km away were associated with a higher score. Similar proportions of businesses were opposed to (45.7%) and supported (47.2%) the policy of removing all tobacco sales from on-license premises. CONCLUSION: Few on-license premises in NZ sell tobacco. Most retailers would support transitioning out of selling tobacco before the 2025 Smokefree goal, and they believed ending sales of tobacco would not negatively affect their business. However, businesses and customers in rural areas may be more affected than others. IMPLICATIONS: Many countries have tobacco-free goals, with several still developing their endgame strategies to achieve these goals. This study provides NZ and other jurisdictions with evidence useful in the development of such strategies. Having on-license alcohol retailers transition out of sales of tobacco would contribute to a reduction in tobacco availability. Moreover, the results of this study suggest that, in part due to declining tobacco sales and increased thefts, such a policy is likely to have the support of retailers. Policy developers should note, however, the potential for different impacts where the distance to the closest tobacco retailer is over 1 km or in rural areas.

Bar Atmospherics and Smoking: A Qualitative Analysis of New Zealand Young Adult Smokers.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking among young adults is often associated with social contexts and alcohol use. Although many countries, including New Zealand, have prohibited smoking inside licensed premises, outdoor areas have enabled smoking and alcohol co-use to persist. We examined whether and how outdoor bar areas facilitate and normalize young adult smoking and explored potential policy implications. METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews with 22 young adults who had recently smoked in a New Zealand bar or nightclub and investigated how physical design attributes (atmospherics) influenced experiences of smoking in outside bar settings. We used qualitative description to identify recurring accounts of the outdoor bar environment and thematic analysis to explore how participants experienced the bar in relation to smoking. RESULTS: Participants valued outdoor smoking areas that were comfortable and relaxing, and saw attributes such as seating, tables, heating, protection from inclement weather, and minimal crowding, as important. We identified four themes; these explained how participants used smoking to gain respite and make social connections, showed how bar settings enabled them to manage smoking's stigma, and identified potential policy measures that would decouple smoking and alcohol co-use. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence bar environments facilitate and normalize smoking among young adults questions whether smokefree policies should be expanded to include all bar areas. Introducing more comprehensive smokefree outdoor policies could reduce the influence of design attributes that foster smoking while also reframing smoking as outside normal social practice. IMPLICATIONS: Bar environments contain many stimuli that cue and reinforce smoking and integrate smoking into social experiences. Expanding smokefree bar settings to include outdoor areas would reduce exposure to these stimuli, decrease opportunities for casual smoking, help maintain young people's smokefree status, and support longer-term goals of sustained reductions in smoking prevalence.

Development and field testing of a patient decision aid for management of acute Achilles tendon rupture: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Achilles tendon ruptures are common injuries in an otherwise healthy, active population. Several treatment options exist, with both surgical and non-surgical options. Each treatment option has a unique set of risks and harms, which may present patients with decisional conflict. The aim of the proposed study is to develop, alpha test and field test a patient decision aid for patients presenting with acute Achilles tendon ruptures. METHODS: This is a three-stage study protocol. First, we will assemble a multi-disciplinary steering group including patients, clinicians, educators, and researchers to develop the patient decision aid prototype using the Ottawa Decision Support Framework. Second, we will perform a mixed-methods alpha test of the decision aid prototype with patients and clinicians experienced in acute Achilles tendon ruptures. Outcomes measured will include acceptability and usability of the patient decision aid measured using validated outcome scales and semi-structured interviews. A minimum of three rounds of feedback will be obtained. Results will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, reviewed by the steering group, to guide revisions to decision aid prototype at each round. The third stage will be field testing the revised decision aid prototype in usual clinical care. A pre-/post-study will be performed with patients with acute Achilles tendon ruptures. Patients will be recruited from the emergency department and complete the pre-consultation decision aid prior to a one-week follow up with their surgeon. The primary outcome of field testing will be feasibility of implementing the decision aid in the clinical setting and will be measured with recruitment and completion metrics. Secondary outcomes include acceptability of the decision aid, knowledge, preparedness for decision making, and decisional conflict, measured using validated outcome measures. Statistical analysis will be performed using descriptive analysis for primary outcomes and a student t-test and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test for secondary outcomes. DISCUSSION: This comprehensive study protocol outlines the development, alpha testing, and field testing of a patient decision aid for patients with acute Achilles tendon rupture. Systematic and transparent development and testing of patient decision aids is critical to improve decision aid quality. Trial registration Not Applicable.