Cross-functional clinical teams: significant improvement in operating room quality and productivity.

This paper will describe a successful application of Quality Improvement concepts to the complex Perioperative System at an academic medical center in the Northeast. The initiation of multi-disciplinary teams (including surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurse managers) will be discussed, as will the steps, skills, and techniques employed. The paper will catalogue keys to success from those observed during this and five similar recent Quality Improvement engagements facilitated by such a process.