A Quality Improvement Study Designed to Optimize Scheduling Geographic/Site Preferences Among Anesthesia Professionals Utilizing Decision Support Tool Assistance

This is a quality improvement pilot study comparing percentages of anesthesia professionals receiving their first choice of workplace location both pre-, and post-implementation of an electronic decision support tool for anesthesia-in-charge schedulers. The study evaluates anesthesia professionals who use the electronic decision support tool and scheduling system at four hospitals and two surgical centers within NorthShore University HealthSystem. The subjects in the study are those anesthesia professionals that work at NorthShore University HealthSystem and are subject to being placed in their desired location by anesthesia schedulers who use the electronic decision support tool. The primary author developed the current software system enabling the electronic decision support tool implementation into clinical practice. All anesthesia-in-charge schedulers were educated during a three-week time period via administrative discussions and demonstrations on how to effectively operate the tool in real time. The total numbers and percentage of 1st choice of location selection by anesthesia professionals were summarized each week using interrupted time series Poisson regression. Slope before intervention, slope after intervention, level change, and slope change were all measured over 14-week pre- and post- implementation periods. The level of change (difference in percentage of anesthesia professionals who received their first choice) was statistically (P<0.0001) and clinically significant when comparing the historical cohorts of 2020 and 2021 to the 2022 intervention group weeks. Therefore, the implementation of an electronic decision support scheduling tool resulted in a statistically significant increase in those anesthesia professionals receiving their first-choice workplace location. This study provides the basis for further investigating whether this specific tool may improve anesthesia professional satisfaction within their work-life balance by enhancing workplace geographic/site choice.