Programme overview
Introduction:
Operating theatre management covering session planning, utilisation and perioperative KPIs is a 5-day course for theatre, perioperative nursing, anaesthesia and surgical department managers that ends with a Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan and KPI dashboard for a case hospital. Hospitals lose surgical capacity when lists start late, turnaround between cases drifts, patients are cancelled on the day and instrument trays or staff are missing at the point of need. Nominees already run theatre sessions, rosters or surgical departments and work through case studies built on theatre logs, list data and cost reports. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this operating theatre management course.
Course Objectives:
- Map the perioperative pathway and theatre suite organisation and locate the points where surgical capacity is lost
- Plan theatre sessions and surgical lists using allocation rules, case duration estimates and utilisation calculations
- Monitor first-case start, turnaround and on-the-day cancellation measures and act on their recorded causes
- Coordinate pre-operative assessment, day surgery flow and the sterile supply interface so that patients, staff and instrument sets are ready for each list
- Design theatre staffing models and skill mix and govern surgical safety checklist use at management level
- Control theatre consumables, implant spend and cost per case and report them through a theatre KPI dashboard
Target Audience:
- Managers responsible for running operating theatre suites, session allocation and daily list delivery
- Perioperative nursing leaders accountable for theatre rosters, skill mix and recovery unit staffing
- Heads of anaesthesia departments responsible for anaesthetic cover and pre-operative assessment services
- Heads of surgical departments accountable for list utilisation and surgical waiting list delivery
- Day surgery and pre-admission unit managers who coordinate patient readiness for surgery
- Theatre business and performance managers who report theatre data, budgets and cost per case
Course Outline:
Day 1: Perioperative Pathway, Theatre Suite Organisation and Current State
- Perioperative Pathway Map from Referral to Recovery Discharge
- Theatre Suite Zoning, Anaesthetic Rooms and Recovery Bay Capacity
- Theatre Team Roles Including Scrub, Circulating and Anaesthetic Staff
- Theatre User Group Governance and Data Ownership Arrangements
- Theatre Current-State Diagnostic Using Session and Case Logs
Day 2: Session Planning, List Scheduling and Utilisation Models
- Session Allocation Models with Fixed, Flexible and Released Sessions
- Forward List Planning Cycle with Session Confirmation and Release Rules
- Case Duration Estimates from Historical Procedure Times
- Theatre Utilisation Calculation from Planned Session and Case Times
- Emergency Theatre and Elective List Separation Models
Day 3: Start Times, Turnaround, Pre-Operative Assessment and Day Surgery
- First-Case Start Time Tracking and Late Start Causes
- Turnaround Time Measurement Between Consecutive Cases on One List
- Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic Triage and Fitness-for-Surgery Readiness
- Day Surgery Unit Flow from Admission to Same-Day Discharge
- Daily Theatre Huddle and List Order Confirmation Routine
Day 4: Cancellations, Sterile Supply, Staffing, Safety Governance and Cost
- On-the-Day Cancellation Coding and Avoidable Cause Pareto
- CSSD Instrument Tray Turnaround and Theatre Service Agreement
- Theatre Staffing Model with Skill Mix and Shift Patterns
- Surgical Safety Checklist Compliance Audit and Team Briefing Governance
- Theatre Consumables Budget, Implant Costs and Cost per Case
Day 5: Case Study Work and the Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan
- Case Hospital Theatre Logs with Late Starts and Cancellations
- Utilisation and Turnaround Analysis of the Case Hospital Lists
- Theatre KPI Dashboard with Targets, Thresholds and Data Definitions
- Staffing, Sterile Supply and Cost Actions for the Case Hospital
- Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan Completion and Peer Defence
Skills You Will Gain:
- Session Allocation Planning
- Theatre Utilisation Analysis
- Turnaround Time Monitoring
- Cancellation Cause Analysis
- Perioperative Skill Mix Planning
- Safety Checklist Governance
- Theatre Cost per Case Control
- Theatre KPI Dashboard Design
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan with KPI dashboard to the theatre management board and the director of surgical services
- Decide which sessions to release, reallocate or protect using utilisation and list data rather than custom
- Avoid lost theatre time, on-the-day cancellations and instrument shortages that delay surgery and waste staffed sessions
- Share list planning rules, cancellation coding and dashboard definitions with theatre coordinators and department colleagues
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant presents the Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan and KPI dashboard to the theatre management board and the heads of anaesthesia, surgery and perioperative nursing. The board uses it to decide session allocation, staffing and skill mix changes, sterile supply service terms and consumables targets for the coming planning cycle. After the first month of lists run under the plan, the board should review first-case start, turnaround, cancellation and cost per case figures against the baseline and adjust the actions that did not move them.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What should participants know before the operating theatre management course?
Participants should already manage or coordinate theatre sessions, perioperative staff or a surgical department and be familiar with theatre lists and rosters. No clinical skill is taught. Bringing anonymised session logs, cancellation records or a theatre budget helps them apply the case work to their own service.
How does operating theatre management differ from a general hospital management course?
It concentrates on the theatre suite alone: sessions, lists, utilisation, turnaround, cancellations, instrument supply, theatre staffing and cost per case. General hospital management courses cover governance, bed flow, quality and finance across the whole hospital and treat theatres as one topic among many.
Why does theatre utilisation matter in operating theatre management?
Theatre utilisation shows how much planned session time is spent operating. Low utilisation usually points to late starts, long turnaround, cancellations or poorly estimated case durations, so tracking it reveals which causes to fix before adding sessions or staff.
What do participants take back from the operating theatre management course?
Participants take back a Theatre Efficiency Improvement Plan with a KPI dashboard covering utilisation, start times, turnaround, cancellations and cost per case, plus session planning rules and cancellation coding that the theatre management board can adapt for their own suite.