Perioperative Workflow Automation

Vetro automates perioperative workflow coordination across the operating room block by detecting what is happening in each room as it happens. Case milestones are captured automatically, the right teams are notified at the right moment, and downstream schedules update without phone calls, pages, or manual timestamps. Staff coordinate around live, reliable context instead of chasing status updates.

Why perioperative coordination breaks down

Perioperative coordination is still largely manual. Teams across pre-op, the OR, PACU, transport, environmental services, and sterile processing rely on calls, pages, and status checks to understand what is happening next. A circulating nurse may pause mid-case to update a status board, while downstream teams wait for information that arrives late. Each missed handoff is small; together they create late starts, longer days, added staff burden, and capacity that is difficult to recover.

How perioperative workflow automation works

Vetro turns live understanding of each case into the milestones, notifications, and schedule updates that keep the perioperative block moving. Teams receive operational context as it becomes relevant, without relying on manual calls, pages, or status updates.

• Detect. Vetro recognizes key case milestones in real time, from patient arrival and induction through incision, closure, and room readiness, without asking clinical staff to stop and enter updates.
• Notify. Vetro sends the right operational updates through the channels teams already use: whether that is Epic chat, Microsoft Teams, SMS, WhatsApp, or another preferred communication system. A flexible API integration routes live case context into established workflows, so teams can act without manual calls, pages, or status checks. As a case approaches completion, turnover teams can prepare earlier; when the next patient arrives, downstream teams have the context to get ready.
• Update. Approved timestamps and documentation can flow to the EHR, status boards reflect live case progress, and schedules update as the day unfolds, including completion estimates and alerts when a phase runs unexpectedly long.

The result is a coordination workflow designed to remove administrative steps, so clinical teams can focus on patients while the operational picture stays current.

What changes for perioperative teams

Perioperative workflow automation gives each team a more current operational picture without adding steps inside the operating room. The result is less time spent chasing updates and more time preparing for what happens next.

• Charge nurses and coordinators: See live status across every room and coordinate the day without phone tag or manual status checks.
• Circulating nurses: Spend less time logging milestones and more time focused on the case and patient.
• Turnover teams: Receive earlier notice through their preferred workflow, so they can prepare rooms and resources before a case ends.
• Surgeons: Stay focused on the procedure and patient while case milestones, operational updates, and downstream coordination happen around the room.
• OR managers: Work from reliable timestamps, live case progress, and utilization data that reflect how the day actually unfolded, not what was entered afterward.

The cost of perioperative inefficiency

Delays, manual handoffs, and incomplete timestamps carry a measurable operational cost across the perioperative block. The figures below put that cost in context.

OR time is expensive. OR time costs $50–100 per minute, and inefficiencies in scheduling, utilization, and turnover contribute an estimated $1,800 in unplanned cost per surgery. Across a year, that can amount to roughly $1.4 million per OR.

Privacy, control, and clinical trust

Vetro is designed to support perioperative coordination without turning the operating room into a surveillance environment. It understands workflow in real time while hospitals retain control over how the system is deployed and used.

• Workflow, not surveillance. Vetro is designed to understand what is happening in the room and across the perioperative workflow, not to score individual staff performance.
• Privacy by design. Data is anonymized at capture and processed on premises, supporting a deployment approach built for sensitive clinical environments.
• Clinical control stays with the care team. Vetro shares operational context to support coordination; clinicians and hospital teams remain responsible for clinical decisions and workflows.

Frequently asked questions about perioperative workflow automation

Do clinical staff need to interact with Vetro during a case?

During the initial training phase, teams may help confirm workflow events while Vetro learns the site’s cases and processes. As activation progresses from training to augmentation and automation, typically over one to three months, Vetro increasingly captures milestones, coordination updates, and documentation automatically, without adding ongoing work during the case.

Does Vetro replace our scheduling system or EHR?

No. Vetro complements the systems you already use. It can read relevant schedule, staffing, and patient context, then write approved events, documentation, and schedule updates through bidirectional EHR integrations.

What happens if Vetro is uncertain about an event?

Vetro uses overlapping viewpoints to keep events observable. When confidence is low, the event can be flagged rather than treated as certain, so hospital teams retain appropriate oversight.

How is Vetro different from an RTLS badge system?

RTLS systems locate tagged people or assets. Vetro understands the operating room in context: case stages, activity, and operational milestones, without requiring people or equipment to wear tags.

How quickly can Vetro be installed and activated?

A room installation typically takes a few hours and can be scheduled overnight or over a weekend. Activation then progresses from training to augmentation and automation over one to three months, depending on the workflow.

How does Vetro send perioperative notifications?

Vetro can route live case updates through the communication channels teams already use, including Epic chat, Microsoft Teams, SMS, WhatsApp, and other preferred systems through flexible API integrations.

Can Vetro integrate with our existing hospital systems?

Yes. Vetro supports bidirectional EHR integrations and HL7 v2/FHIR compatibility. It can read relevant schedule, staffing, and patient context, then write approved events, documentation, and schedule updates back into the systems teams already use. Notifications can also route into Epic chat, Microsoft Teams, SMS, WhatsApp, or other preferred communication systems through flexible API integrations.

How does Vetro protect staff privacy?

Vetro is designed to understand workflow, not to score individual staff performance. Data is anonymized at capture and processed on premises. Hospitals retain control over deployment and use, while Vetro shares operational context, not clinical direction, to support coordination. Clinical decisions remain with the care team.