The value of the dedicated orthopaedic trauma operating room

Trauma centers and orthopaedic surgeons have traditionally been faced with limited operating room (OR) availability for fracture surgery. Orthopaedic trauma cases are often waitlisted and done late at night. We investigated the feasibility of having an unbooked orthopaedic trauma OR to reduce nighttime cases and improve OR flow. A retrospective analysis was performed for two 1 year time periods before and after the introduction of an unbooked trauma OR. The unbooked trauma OR is kept open for urgent and semi-urgent cases from 7:45 am to 5 pm 6 days per week, and is under the control of Orthopaedics; no elective cases are scheduled in the unbooked trauma room. We collected OR time data on two common surgical cases (dynamic hip screw and closed femoral nailing) done before and after introduction of the unbooked orthopaedic trauma OR. We also reviewed data on waitlist cases, surgical time, anesthetic times, OR utilization, and surgical complications before and after the introduction of the unbooked trauma room. The availability of the unbooked trauma OR significantly improved operating suite flow. The proportion of hip fractures done after 5 pm was reduced by 72% (p