Australian health review : a publication of the Australian Hospital Association
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This project aimed to investigate how best to define and record theatre use time periods, to determine how much time was lost in theatre, to design reports on theatre time utilisation which were useful and acceptable to surgeons and hospital managers, and to determine whether the use of these reports affected utilisation. Time lost in theatre increased in proportion to the number of cases on the list, from 0% by definition with only one case to 17% with five cases. ⋯ This was achieved without observable effect on the proportion of allocated time used, which remained fairly stable. The project illustrated the need to alter theatre procedures to minimise time between cases, replace the theatre book with a microcomputer as a precursor to implementation of a computerised theatre information system, and to continue to test utilisation reports as part of a regular utilisation review.
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Despite the enormous body of literature concerning Performance Appraisal, when all is said and done, more seems to have been said than done--at least done effectively. This article analyses the conceptual and methodological basis of performance appraisal, to disclose the complexity of this common management evaluation instrument. ⋯ Several common measurement tools are examined and it is finally concluded that there is no one best way to measure performance. A scheme that is methodologically sound and conceptually pure does not exist.