Surgical team familiarity and waste generation in the operating room

Background: Wastage of surgical supplies results from inappropriate anticipation of surgical needs in the operating room and contributes to avoidable healthcare costs.

Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of 28,768 elective cases at the University of Chicago Medical Center from 2016 through 2018 was conducted. Attending surgeon-scrub nurse and surgeon-circulating nurse familiarity scores were calculated. Odds of surgical waste generation based on surgeon-scrub nurse and surgeon-circulating nurse familiarity were estimated through multivariate logistic regression modeling.

Results: Teams in the third and fourth quartiles of surgeon-scrub familiarity were significantly associated with reduced odds of waste (odds ratios 0.80 [p = 0.003] and 0.83 [p = 0.030], respectively). There was no significant reduction of odds of waste generation as surgeon-circulator familiarity increased.

Conclusions: Greater surgeon-scrub familiarity was associated with lower risk of waste generation. Cost savings may be realized through supporting staffing schedules that promote consistency of surgeon-scrub teams.