Fast track surgery, a strategy to improve operational efficiency in a high-complexity hospital in Latin America.

Unlabelled: Fast Track surgery is designed to optimize time in low-complexity procedures, thus improving efficiency in care provision, and preserving patient safety.

Method: Before and after intervention study in a surgical setting, with failure mode and effects analysis, identification and prioritization of improvement opportunities, process measurement before the intervention, improvement implementation, practical application, process measurement after the intervention, and surgical time comparisons.

Results: With the Fast Track program, 19% of the operating room capacity available was freed per day; before surgical FastTrack implementation, 50% of the procedures started 23 minutes behind schedule. After the Fast Track program was implemented, procedures start 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Anesthesia induction time was reduced by 50%, and skin-to-skin surgical time dropped by 28%. The number of surgical procedures performed in the day increased by 33-50%. There were noincidents or adverse events.

Conclusions: Fast Track surgery is a useful strategy for improving operating room efficiency and reducing surgical time. Procedures start on time, with increased timely care, patient and practitioner satisfaction, and lower service costs.