Elimination of excess preoperative wait time and its impact on immediate clinical outcomes among patients undergoing spinal surgery.

A process improvement initiative reduced the immediate preoperative wait time for patients undergoing spinal surgery by 30 minutes. Data from spinal surgeries occurring before and after the initiative were compared with patients arriving 2 hours vs 1.5 hours prior to surgery, respectively. In this study, we describe the association between reduced preoperative wait time and 3 clinical end points-postoperative pain, use of anxiolytics in the preoperative waiting period, and length of time in surgical recovery. The reduction in preoperative wait time did not compromise clinical outcomes and likely made a positive difference for patients in terms of convenience.