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Decision-making in operating theatres : the management of unplanned surgery

Pham, Huong (2007) Decision-making in operating theatres : the management of unplanned surgery.

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Abstract:In a former study of Emergency Surgery management Fitzgerald et al. (2005) the dynamic and complex nature of decision-making concerning the prioritisation of unplanned surgery is confirmed. Another outcome was also the little uniformity between and within NSW public hospitals when unplanned cases are scheduled. However, a recommendation was that a decision-making support tool can improve decision-making practices by acting as a catalyst for dialogue between and within professions when scheduling unplanned surgery. This report investigates the possibilities for improvement of the data collection for decision-making of scheduling unplanned surgery. The biggest observed problem in decision-making are the unsatisfied stakeholders in the process and in particular surgeons. All the surgeons have their own vision on the emergency list and there needs to be an overview of the processes on the emergency list. Surgeons only receive information about what decision is made and not about the alternatives. Another observed problem is the stakeholder salience in the decision-making process. Stakeholders have influence based on: urgency, power and legitimacy. Urgency is directly related to the medical priority of a patient and is determined by the surgeons. The reliability of this medical priority is rather doubtful. Next to this, the power element in stakeholder salience has influence as well but should be minimised. Surgeons often put pressure on nurses and anaesthetists for their own interest, which decreases effective decision-making. Also, in the datacollection, some problems occur. Data is not always complete and reliable for the D.A. to make decision upon.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Liverpool hospital, Australia
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Health Sciences MSc (66851)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/58069
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