Nightly Preoperative Huddle Email Improves Perioperative Efficiency

Abstract Background Our institution created a nightly "Huddle" email for all staff involved in patient care, detailing the next day's cases. This study evaluates the impact of the Huddle email on perioperative efficiency and identifies factors associated with operating room delays. Methods 1080 first start, open, non-emergent cardiac operations were stratified as Pre-Huddle: 01/2013-06/2015 vs Huddle: 07/2015-01/2017. Scheduled start to in-room time (Delay Time [DT]), in-room to incision time, and total minutes utilized were analyzed. On Time starts were defined as DT≤ 0 minutes, and Long Delays (LD) were defined as DT>15 minutes. LD were compared to other cases based on preoperative factors. Multivariate regression identified independent predictors of DT. Results 643 Pre-Huddle and 437 Huddle cases were analyzed. After Huddle implementation, DT decreased by 2 minutes (9 min Pre-Huddle vs 7 min Huddle p Conclusions Implementation of the Huddle improved DT, On Time entry, and LD. Strategies focused on optimizing perioperative care are beneficial for multidisciplinary teams.