Department: Operation Theatre (OT)
OT Operations Management
- Supervise the overall daily operation of the Operation Theatre.
- Ensure OT is ready before every scheduled surgery.
- Prepare and coordinate the daily and weekly OT surgery schedule.
- Coordinate elective, emergency and urgent surgical procedures.
- Ensure surgeries start and finish on time and minimize unnecessary OT delays.
- Maintain smooth workflow between pre-operative, operative and post-operative areas.
- Ensure OT remains ready for emergency procedures 24/7.
Coordination with Doctors & Departments
- Coordinate with surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, OT technicians and attendants.
- Coordinate with wards, ICU, Emergency, laboratory, blood bank, pharmacy and CSSD.
- Confirm surgeon and anesthetist availability before finalizing the OT list.
- Communicate any changes, postponements or cancellations promptly.
- Ensure required investigations, consent and pre-operative requirements are completed before surgery.
Patient Safety & Surgical Checklist
- Ensure proper patient identification before surgery.
- Ensure correct patient, correct procedure and correct surgical site.
- Ensure completion of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist or hospital-approved checklist.
- Verify required consent, investigation reports and other necessary documentation.
- Ensure proper patient handover between ward, OT and recovery area.
- Immediately report any patient-safety incident, complication or near miss to management.
Infection Prevention & Sterilization
- Maintain strict aseptic technique and infection-control practices inside OT.
- Ensure proper cleaning and disinfection before and after every procedure.
- Coordinate with CSSD for sterilization and availability of instruments.
- Verify sterilization indicators and sterile-pack integrity.
- Ensure proper handling of contaminated instruments and materials.
- Ensure appropriate segregation and disposal of biomedical waste and sharps.
- Monitor OT environmental cleanliness, ventilation, temperature and hygiene.
Staff Management
- Prepare OT staff duty rosters and shift schedules.
- Allocate duties to OT nurses, technicians, attendants and support staff.
- Monitor attendance, punctuality, discipline and performance.
- Ensure adequate manpower for both elective and emergency surgeries.
- Train and orient new OT staff.
- Conduct regular briefings regarding OT protocols, safety and infection control.
- Identify staff shortages and inform management for necessary action.
Equipment & Instrument Management
- Ensure proper functioning of:
- OT table
- Anesthesia machine
- Patient monitors
- Cautery/diathermy
- Suction machine
- OT lights
- Surgical instruments
- Oxygen and other medical gases
- Emergency/crash equipment
- Maintain daily equipment-check records.
- Immediately report equipment malfunction to Biomedical/Engineering or Management.
- Coordinate preventive maintenance and servicing.
- Ensure emergency backup equipment is available.
OT Store & Consumables
- Monitor availability of surgical instruments, sutures, gloves, gowns, drapes, medicines and consumables.
- Maintain minimum and maximum stock levels.
- Prepare requisitions for required items.
- Monitor daily consumption and wastage.
- Prevent stock-outs during scheduled surgeries.
- Maintain proper records of high-value items, implants and special surgical materials.
Documentation & Records
Ensure proper maintenance of:
- OT Register
- Daily Surgery List
- OT Booking Register
- Patient In/Out Register
- Instrument Count Register
- Sterilization/CSSD Records
- Equipment Checklist
- Anesthesia-related records as applicable
- OT Cleaning Checklist
- Emergency Surgery Records
- Incident/Accident Reports
- OT Consumption & Stock Records
Accurate surgical logs, utilization records and incident reporting are core OT-management responsibilities.
Emergency OT Management
- Ensure immediate availability of OT for emergency surgeries.
- Coordinate rapidly with surgeons, anesthetists, nursing staff, ICU, Emergency and blood bank.
- Ensure emergency instruments, drugs, oxygen and other supplies are available.
- Maintain an emergency OT readiness checklist.
- Escalate critical shortages or operational problems immediately to management.
Quality & Performance Monitoring
- Monitor OT utilization and efficiency.
- Track surgery delays, cancellations and OT downtime.
- Identify causes of delays and take corrective action.
- Monitor infection-control compliance.
- Conduct periodic OT audits.
- Submit daily/weekly/monthly OT reports to management.
- Recommend improvements in OT workflow, patient safety and service quality.
Cleaning, Safety & Environment
- Ensure proper cleaning of OT before and after every surgery.
- Ensure terminal cleaning according to hospital protocol.
- Ensure proper disposal of biomedical waste.
- Monitor fire safety and emergency exits.
- Ensure medical-gas safety and electrical safety.
- Ensure restricted access and proper OT discipline.
Financial & Cost Control
- Monitor OT consumption and wastage.
- Control unnecessary use of consumables.
- Verify OT requisitions and consumption reports.
- Coordinate with Procurement and Store departments.
- Help management identify opportunities to improve OT utilization and reduce operational costs.
Reporting to Management
The OT In-Charge should submit regular reports covering:
Daily
- Total surgeries
- Elective surgeries
- Emergency surgeries
- Cancelled/postponed surgeries
- OT delays
- Equipment problems
- Stock shortages
- Incidents
Monthly
- OT utilization
- Number and type of surgeries
- Cancellation rate
- OT revenue/consumption information as applicable
- Infection-control observations
- Equipment maintenance
- Staff performance
- Major operational problems and recommendations
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
For Farabi, I would recommend evaluating the OT In-Charge on:
- OT Utilization Rate
- On-Time Surgery Start Rate
- Surgery Cancellation Rate
- Emergency OT Readiness
- Infection-Control Compliance
- Sterilization Compliance
- Equipment Availability
- Stock-Out Frequency
- Documentation Accuracy
- Patient Safety Compliance
- Staff Attendance & Discipline
- OT Cost/Wastage Control
