Table 6 Summary of Results of each section

Section 1: A process of event-based knowledge elicitation was developed by employing hypothetical scenarios to assess OR management decision-making at surgical facilities that may reduce the efficiency of use of OR time. The needs assessment is practical, occupying approximately 1 hour of local managers' time while they evaluate if their decisions are consistent with the described scenarios.

Section 2: Hypothetical scenarios addressing every OR management decision influencing OR efficiency were created from published examples.

Section 3: Scenarios are adapted, so that cues about conditions are accurate and appropriate for each facility (e.g., if OR 1 is used in a scenario, the listed procedure is a type of procedures performed at the facility in OR 1).

Section 4: For 43 of 45 scenarios, adaptation is performed automatically using Visual Basic for Applications code and the facility's OR information system or AIMS data.

Section 5: Facilities consistently needed to make few changes in decisions to increase the efficiency of use of OR time. However, based on 22 applications of the process, there are differences among facilities. Thus, the needs assessment should be performed individually for each hospital.

Section 6: A table of contents of the indexed scenarios is created automatically, providing a simple version of problem solving using case-based reasoning. For example, a new OR manager needing to know how best to decide whether to move a case can look in the chapter on "Moving Cases on the Day of Surgery" (Section #4) to find a scenario that describes the situation being encountered.