How do you staff 15+ operating rooms a day without burning out your best nurses? OHSU's Dio Sumagaysay and Taryn Tomlinson explain how an AI-powered staffing optimization tool ended "hero staffing," cut hours of manual scheduling, and lifted care consistency across their perioperative teams.

In this episode:

• How OHSU's perioperative team moved beyond "hero staffing" and siloed scheduling knowledge held by individual service coordinators
• Inside IQ Staff Planner: the AI tool that auto-assigns OR staff by case history and competency, built in partnership with LeanTaaS
• Real outcomes: 25 hours a week of service coordinator time redirected to patient care, a 5-minute average drop in case duration, and a 30% increase in care consistency
• How OHSU built staff trust in AI by co-designing the tool with frontline service coordinators and charge nurses instead of imposing it top-down

Guests: Dio Sumagaysay, Vice President of Perioperative Services at OHSU (overseeing multi-specialty procedural areas including cath lab, IR, and endoscopy), with the organization for almost 17 years. Taryn Tomlinson, Assistant Nurse Manager for the operating rooms at OHSU Center for Health and Healing, with OHSU since 2019.

Topics covered: AI staffing optimization, operating room scheduling, perioperative workforce management, healthcare AI adoption, OR staffing shortages, LeanTaaS IQ Staff Planner

Timestamps:

[00:00] Welcome to Innovate Health: meet Dio Sumagaysay and Taryn Tomlinson

[04:02] The old way: "hero staffing" and siloed OR knowledge

[07:51] Why OHSU piloted IQ Staff Planner

[12:39] Inside the 8-year LeanTaaS partnership

[16:14] How the tool works: case-history "signal bars"

[19:41] Inside auto-assign: AI-matched daily staffing

[23:02] Addressing fears: will AI replace OR staff?

[25:50] The results: 25 hours reclaimed, 30% more consistency

[28:17] Culture change: from paper whiteboards to AI dashboards

[34:24] What's next: main OR, anesthesia, and surgeon optimization

Links & Resources Mentioned

• OHSU Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine — Services
• OHSU Center for Health and Healing, South Waterfront Campus
• OHSU's Approach to AI in Patient Care
• Lean Enterprise Institute
• John Shook, Lean Enterprise Institute
• Back to the Patient - How AI Scribe is Changing the Visit