AB011. SOH25_AB_082. Audit of utilization of emergency operating theatres at University Hospital Limerick: a one-week audit of theatre efficiency and specialty access
Urology Session

AB011. SOH25_AB_082. Audit of utilization of emergency operating theatres at University Hospital Limerick: a one-week audit of theatre efficiency and specialty access

Jamil Malak, Sarah Khalil, Ahmed Ahmed, Mohamed Mohamed, Usama Ahmed, Anas Musa, Mohamed Zeid, Subhasis Giri

Department of Urology, University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Background: This audit examines the use of operating theatres 2, 3, 4, and 5 at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) over one week (October 14–21, 2024) to evaluate emergency and non-emergency surgical utilization. The objective was to assess theatre access and specialty-specific usage to identify opportunities for improving efficiency and patient care.

Methods: Data were collected from theatre logbooks, recording procedures, type of anaesthetic, specialties, and emergency versus non-emergency classification. The audit aimed to assess emergency theatre access across specialties for quality improvement purposes.

Results: A total of 86 general anaesthesia/spinal cases were performed, with 71 (82.6%) classified as emergencies. Urology and Orthopaedics had the highest percentage of emergencies (93.3% each), followed by General Surgery (86.9%), Gynaecology (66.7%), Maxillofacial (57.1%), and ENT (50%). There were no vascular cases.

Conclusions: Emergency theatre utilization is heavily concentrated in a few specialties, notably Urology, Orthopaedics, and General Surgery, which collectively accounted for the majority of emergency cases. The findings suggest a need to provide emergency theatre access over the weekend in order to improve patient care and reduce delays.

Keywords: Emergency surgery; quality improvement; theatre occupancy patterns; University Hospital Limerick (UHL); health service optimization

Acknowledgments

None.

Footnote

Funding: None.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-25-ab011
Cite this abstract as: Malak J, Khalil S, Ahmed A, Mohamed M, Ahmed U, Musa A, Zeid M, Giri S. AB011. SOH25_AB_082. Audit of utilization of emergency operating theatres at University Hospital Limerick: a one-week audit of theatre efficiency and specialty access. Mesentery Peritoneum 2025;9:AB011.

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