A Multimodal Interdisciplinary QI Intervention Is Associated with Reduced Variability in Finishing Inpatient Endoscopic Cases and Reduction in Cases after Hours

Performing non-emergent inpatient endoscopic cases after hours poses risks to patient safety, negatively impacts patient and provider satisfaction, and potentially prolongs length of stay (LOS), due to decreased staffing and transitions in care. At our institution, weekday inpatient procedures are performed in dedicated operating rooms with anesthesia support; resource changes at 5PM and 7PM lengthen flow time. At baseline, the mean daily end of workday (EOW), defined by endoscopy-out of the day’s last non-emergent case, was 17:46, but with a wide standard deviation (SD) of 2:20 hours, with only 57.6% days with EOW < 7PM.