緒言とまとめ

Efficient Operating Room Management and Healthcare Economics：Preface and Comments

　手術室の効率的な運営と医療経済は，病院経営や高度医療の提供においてきわめて重要なテーマである。多くの医療現場では医療需要の多様化，医療資源の逼迫，人材確保の難しさ，働き方改革，そして新しい感染症への対応など，さまざまな問題に向き合っている。特に高齢化が進むわが国では，リスクの高い患者の手術件数増加に加えて，術前・術後管理に必要な人や時間も拡大しつつある。限られた資源を使って，いかに効率よく質の高い医療を提供できるかは，新しい時代ではさらに難しくなっていくと感じている。

　Efficient operating room（OR）management and healthcare economics are critical themes in hospital management and the delivery of advanced medical care. Many hospitals face growing challenges, including an aging local population, increased surgical demand, limited resources, staff shortages, work-style reforms, and emerging infectious diseases. In addition, there have been recent increases in the number of high-risk surgeries and in OR staff’s perioperative workload, which add to the challenges to provide high-quality care with limited resources. The OR is both a key source of hospital revenue and a critical setting for patient safety, patient satisfaction, and staff well-being. Efficient OR operations aim not only to optimize workflows and working conditions but also to reduce patient and staff stress by eliminating unnecessary strain, waste, and inconsistency while safeguarding quality and safety. Strategies to accomplish these goals such as the use of information technology, the implementation of post-anesthesia care units, and task shifting/sharing are being introduced；however, their economic and managerial impacts are complex, difficult to evaluate, and require continuous analysis and collaboration between frontline staff and management. In this special feature, we present multidisciplinary perspectives on OR leadership, utilization analyses, workflow streamlining, perioperative quality improvement, and infection control, and we provide practical insights for daily practice, management decisions, and future OR reforms.