The Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program's 2018 Quality Review revealed ASCs were commonly cited for deficiencies in patient care and safety during 2017 surveys.
Here are three tips from industry leaders on strategies ASCs can use to improve or maintain positive surgical outcomes for patients.
1. Facilities can utilize patient identifiers in the preoperative area before entering the operating room, Christy Bingham, intra-procedural director at Traverse City, Mich.-based Copper Ridge Surgery Center told ASC Focus.
"Patient verification in preop requires a minimum of two patient identifiers to confirm identity and for patient safety. The OR circulator will ask for the patient's name, date of birth, physician and what procedure they are having done," she said.
2. A McKesson post on improving surgical outcomes recommends leveraging data to gauge and drive progress.
"Hospitals and ASCs should not limit analytics to their own databases of surgical information. They should access or partner with regional and national databases of surgical information in order to compare their clinical and cost outcomes with peers across the country," the post states.
3. Standardizing surgical scheduling is another way to improve outcomes, AORN Syntegrity President Janice Kelly, RN-BC, said in an article on OR Today.
"A standardized surgical procedure list enhances communication and helps ensure that procedure-specific resources are available in the OR, including staff and equipment, so patient care is not impacted," she said.