Background: Optimal operating room management is essential for enhancing productivity, patient safety, service quality, and staff satisfaction in healthcare systems. In Imam Reza University Hospital in Mashhad, low operational efficiency, threatened resource productivity, patient safety, and staff satisfaction. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing a strategic operating room management guideline on quantitative and qualitative performance indicators and staff satisfaction.
Methods: This pre-post interventional quality-improvement study was conducted at Imam Reza Educational, Research and Treatment Complex, Mashhad, Iran in 2023. A comprehensive strategic operating room guideline was developed and implemented. Data were collected using quantitative performance indicators (operating room utilization hours, number of patients, overall efficiency), eight qualitative domains (environmental health and waste, infection prevention and control, error management, medication management, emergency care, anesthesia and surgical care, critical care, and general clinical care), and a validated staff job-satisfaction questionnaire. Paired t-test analyses with bootstrap resampling were performed using SPSS version 26.
Results: After implementation, operating room utilization rose by 21%, surgical volume by 15%, and overall efficiency by 20% (p < 0.05). Most qualitative domains improved, notably infection control, error and medication management, emergency, anesthesia, surgical, and critical care. Staff satisfaction improved markedly in work environment, direct supervision, promotion opportunities, nature of work, and coworker relationships.
Conclusion: Implementation of the strategic operating room guideline through process standardization, continuous monitoring, and team-based participation successfully enhanced productivity, service quality, and staff satisfaction. The findings can serve as a foundation for national operating room management policies and provide a replicable model for other hospitals.