2013 Operating theatre management conference is one of a kind

Managing operating rooms requires the coordination of human and material resources to maximise efficiency, cost effectiveness and patient safety. All this, and more, will be on the agenda of Australia’s only event for operating room and perioperative management professions, the Fifth Operating Theatre Management Conference. 
The conference will take place on 22 and 23 August at Dockside in Darling Park, Sydney and according to program producer Emma Day the event will focus on meeting national safety and quality standards, as well as addressing safety improvement procedures, workforce management, accessing funding, meeting targets, and maximising theatre efficiency.
“Meeting targets, particularly the National Emergency Access Targets (NEAT) and the National Elective Surgery Targets (NEST), is a perennial issue, “ Ms Day says. “Through key case studies, we will learn how health services across the nation are maximising operating room efficiency and decreasing patient delays to meet these targets. “Management of operating rooms requires the coordination of human and material resources to maximise efficiency, cost effectiveness, and patient safety. “Collaboration and collective responsibility are key elements to effective operating room management and integral to this is an understanding of your workforce and the theatre workplace culture. “The conference will discuss strategies for managing the four generational cohorts in today’s health workforce, developing leadership, and creating a person-centered environment in the perioperative setting”.
Key speakers have been chosen from throughout Australia and New Zealand and include: Leigh Anderson, Improvement Specialist for Auckland District Health Board; CharmayneThompson, Operations Manager of Perioperative Services at The Women’s Hospital in Melbourne; Jed Duff, Clinical Research Fellow St Vincent’s private Hospital NSW; and Sharon Cassidy, Clinical Nurse Educator Operating Theater, Alice Springs Hospital, Northern Territory. These are just a few who  will present at the two-day program. A pre-conference workshop ib Effecting Operating Suite Resource Management, including information on decision making proposal writing and team management is also open to attendees.
“This event is an opportunity to discuss operating room management strategies, learn how other public and private hospitals are meeting standards, understand how best to access funding, debate how to maximise efficiency, and to develop contacts with industry experts and peers to call upon when troubleshooting in your own health service,” Ms Day adds.
For further information, go to www.healthcareconferences.com.au/optheatre 
Patient ID and Procedure Mapping:an Operations Manager Approach 
Implementing and managing improvement strategies in the perioperative setting is crucial to meeting safety and quality standards.Operations Manager Perioperative Service at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Charmayne Thompson, gives AHHB an insight into her address at the Operating Theatre Management Conference, taking place in Sydney late August and how the Women’s Hospital in Melbourne is rolling out the Standard.
With an entire stream addressing the National Safety and Quality Standards Ms Thompson will exclusively present on Standard Five of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Standards – Patient ID and Procedure Matching.
Ms Thompson’s presentation will cover the systems changes which need to be implemented to ensure compliance with the Standard. “Some of these changes were modifications and some were complete changes to current Practice,” Ms Thompson says. “Key stakeholder involvement and buy in was and continues to be critical in any change management strategy.”
Before changes to policy and procedure are implemented, Ms Thompson says they need to be approved by internal committees as part of the hospital’s strong clinical government. “We aim to roll out these changes as part of Standard 5 Patient ID and procedure mapping in July 2013,” she says.
Believing the Standards are a positive change by allowing health care organisations to measure internal quality assurance as well as assist in the external accreditation process, Ms Thompson says the Standards are inherently designed to protect the public from harm and to improve the quality of health care provision (National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards June 2011).
“The most significant changes to date have been in design of the patient ID Label and Bands,as well as the way we consistently identify the patient (inpatient and outpatient) across all the departments in our organisation,” Ms Thompson says. “We are currently still to completely introduce this standard at The Women’s.”
“When benchmarking with organisations across the country, we are all at different stages of implementation with all of the National Safety and Quality Health Care Standards including Standard 5. “We are all however committed to providing a safe perioperative environment for our patients. “As such we will all be looking to conferences/ seminars including this one to network and learn from one another.”