Using a computerized scheduling system to predict procedure lengths.

To determine the effectiveness of our computerized OR scheduling system and database, we compared scheduled surgical procedure lengths to actual procedure lengths for a large, multispecialty sample (1,103 procedures in 14 surgical subspecialties). We were able to accurately predict procedure lengths, within 15 minutes, 65% of the time. The estimated procedure lengths were more accurate in some surgical subspecialties than others, and four specific factors accounted for a large percentage (ie, 84%) of all delayed start times.