Reduction of Surgical Setup in University Hospital with Implementation of Quick Tool Exchange as an Improvement for Patient Safety

Introduction: Patient safety in the surgical environment is a worldwide concern, therefore, improvements in management efficiency and excellence in the quality of services provided in the surgical center are sought.

Aim: To analyze the implementation of the Rapid Tool Exchange (TRF) methodology to reduce surgical setup in a university hospital through the improvement of patient safety.

Methodology: This was a descriptive crosssectional study conducted between June and December 2015, in which the TRF methodology was implemented based on the lean concept, with adaptation to 13 rooms of a surgical suite of a university hospital in Porto Alegre in five surgical specialties. Project was approved by the institution’s Ethics Committee.

Results: In all the surgical specialties analyzed, there was a reduction in surgical setup time, with a maximum decrease of eight minutes.

Conclusions: The implantation of TRF made it possible to reduce the surgical set-up by validating the times to create a performance indicator, promoting improvements in room utilization rates, optimizing the protocol for safe surgery and promoting quality care. 

Keywords: Surgical Centers; Perioperative Nursing; Patient safety; Surgical rooms; Organization and Administration.