But at that point a trauma rolled into the emergency department, and the OR again put my case in a holding pattern. But feelings and frustrations are useful only if they help us understand the underlying problems. What we're really talking about here are finite precious resources. These include operating rooms, the intensive care units and inpatient beds. Like an airline schedule, the validity of scheduling is only as good as nature allows.
Surgeons understand that the block scheduling of the operating room is very complex.
Among other things, scheduling helps us know when to come to work and when to tell our patients to come to the hospital. A surgeon and patient can be caught in what feels like an eternal holding pattern waiting for the stars to become aligned to provide an available room, nurses and an anesthesiologist to get on with the case. And don't forget the domino effect. Lately the intensive care units and inpatient beds have become increasingly busy, threatening cancellations or triaging elective procedures because of concern that postoperative beds in critical care units might not be available for patients - forcing long waits in the recovery units. Nonsurgical outpatients in the clinics have experienced similar frustrations where physicians hoping to see patients have been foiled by a lack of clinic space.