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Customer SuccessHow to Improve OR Room Utilization with Scheduling Software
Organization
Gastroenterology Department at a Children’s Hospital
Location
Massachusetts
Implemented Solution
Lightning Bolt Scheduling
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background
A Massachusetts-based gastroenterology department within a children’s hospital employs over 300 clinicians, including 70 endoscopists. The department specializes in pediatric GI, liver, and nutritional care while simultaneously advancing research.
Challenge
“As the department grew over the years, it became more and more difficult to track [provider requests and preferences],” the clinic supervisor said. “Ultimately, it was dependent on the admin manager and the medical director to keep track of and remember all the preferences. Also, due to the nature of manual entering, copying, and pasting in Excel, human error was unavoidable.”
The ambulatory clinic supervisor and administrative manager oversaw inpatient service, clinic, and procedure schedules to evenly distribute physician workloads. However, frequent errors arose from the lack of a centralized system to track provider assignments.
The inpatient service schedule was planned on whiteboards and sticky notes, a process that took weeks to complete for a schedule that covered a 12-month period. Clinic and procedure schedules, created using various EHR templates, were similarly time-consuming and had to be cross-checked to avoid double bookings.
OR and call schedules added further complexity. Realtime updates were difficult, leading to unused OR time when shifts were missed or left unscheduled—a lost revenue opportunity. Call schedules were built manually in spreadsheets and required review by the interim department director, who had limited time to meticulously check them.
These difficulties compounded into a list of common frustrations for the gastro team:
- Outdated schedules that were printed and reprinted multiple times
- Errors in time-off requests
- Double-booked shifts
- Frequently rescheduled patient appointments
- Providers being contacted at the wrong time
As an added challenge, schedule information also had to be manually entered into the department’s paging software. These updates took a minimum of eight hours a month.
It was time to find a tech-enabled solution to ease the scheduling process by ensuring balance, accuracy, transparency, and access.
Solution
The clinic supervisor and administrative manager found PerfectServe’s Lightning Bolt Scheduling because it was already being used by other departments within the hospital. After consulting with some of these interdepartmental colleagues, the gastro team learned that they had great success with Lightning Bolt’s optimization and schedule auto-generation capabilities.
A huge selling point was the ability to connect with a technical consultant—a dedicated point of contact for the duration of their relationship. After the final decision was made, Lightning Bolt was fully implemented within two months.
Results
1
Time Savings
With Lightning Bolt, tracking provider preferences and vacation requests became a seamless process. The group saved hours for every scheduling cycle and eliminated wasted time fixing errors and other missing details. For instance, building the backup attending schedule used to take a minimum of four hours, but now it’s complete in just a few minutes—a 98% time savings.
“It took weeks to create the schedule pre-Lightning Bolt versus a matter of minutes post-Lightning Bolt. I was able to generate eight months of schedule in less than 20 minutes,” the clinic supervisor said. “The time saved on being able to generate the schedule based on an algorithm and data that exists in Lightning Bolt is invaluable. I could not imagine putting together the schedule for the 70+ providers we have now, manually.”
2
Error Elimination
Having preferences and requests built into Lightning Bolt also helped to reduce scheduling errors. And because these components are stored within the system, its rule-based algorithm automatically references them when schedules are built.
For the gastro department, neither the clinic supervisor nor the interim director needs to waste time double- or triple-checking the schedule—it’s always correct and up to date. Schedulers can also review, adjust, and confirm changes within the Lightning Bolt application as needed to maintain the proper level of human oversight.
3
Resource Utilization
In the past, when a provider requested a schedule change that then left the OR unoccupied, nobody filled the vacant slot. Lightning Bolt was able to address this problem in a few ways:
In the past, when a provider requested a schedule change that then left the OR unoccupied, nobody filled the vacant slot. Lightning Bolt was able to address this problem in a few ways:
- First, Lightning Bolt builds a schedule where all available shifts are staffed appropriately, ensuring sufficient coverage to support patient access.
- Second, the department opted to use a Lightning Bolt feature that allows clinicians to see unused OR rooms. Now, if an OR room is empty during a shift, an NP can go in and assign that room to herself. It’s also set up as an auto-approve process in Lightning Bolt, so once the NP updates the schedule, the change is immediately available to all other users.
Schedulers now want to duplicate this workflow for clinic room space to increase patient access and limit the number of appointments that have to be rescheduled.
4
Tallies and Tally Targets
Before Lightning Bolt, tracking shift allotments and ensuring equitable schedules was a challenge, especially with the gastroenterology department’s rapid growth and varying schedule rotations. Some schedules were planned monthly, while others spanned six months to a year, making it difficult to assess fairness and accuracy.
With Lightning Bolt’s Tallies feature, administrators can compile schedule data and set shift targets for individual providers to build fairness in at the ground level when generating schedules. The scheduling team now uses Tallies to ensure goals are met and to create tailored reports for NP and MD on-call blocks, procedure room utilization, and backup shifts. These improvements enable the team to align all schedules—procedure, service, and clinic—at the start of the year.
5
Powerful Integrations
Before Lightning Bolt, schedules had to be migrated to the paging system by hand, which took about eight hours per month and caused constant provider frustration and communication delays.
“We used to get complaints frequently about contacting the wrong person or being contacted incorrectly because the [schedule changes] weren’t reflected in [the paging system],” one scheduler said.
Now that Lightning Bolt is the scheduling source of truth, the integration with the paging system requires virtually zero oversight, and there are no manual inputs required from schedulers. This also eliminates errors that could arise from transcribing the schedule by hand. The on-call schedule is automatically pulled into the paging system, meaning clinicians are now confident that they’re reaching out to the right person when they initiate communication.
Want to learn more about Lightning Bolt’s full suite of integrations? Check out our integrations catalog.
“We found that, in order for Lightning Bolt to be most useful, it should be as comprehensive as possible. We wanted to include all possible assignments for the provider, which we slowly added over time. We have also greatly expanded what we use Lighting Bolt for over the years to include all inpatient schedules, daily and weekly backup schedules, weekend triage assignments, and more.“
Conclusion
The gastroenterology department’s transformation with Lightning Bolt highlights the power of technology to solve complex operational challenges. By automating scheduling, reducing errors, and improving resource utilization, the department can dedicate more of its focus to patient care.
Streamlined workflows have eased administrative burdens, enhanced communication, and allowed clinicians to work more efficiently. As the department grows, Lightning Bolt’s flexibility and scalability make it an essential tool for maintaining provider wellness and operational excellence.
“I was able to generate eight months of schedule in less than 20 minutes.”
– Clinical Supervisor
