Here are five ways to improve patient experience and ambulatory surgery center operations after surgery.
1. Track post-surgical wound infections. Brian Brown, regional vice president of operations for Meridian Surgical Partners, says every ASC should track post-surgical wound infections and compare those rates to national benchmarks. Tracking post-surgical wound infections can enlighten your ASC on whether your infection rate is increasing, decreasing or remaining stagnant over time. The data can also let you know where you fall compared to similar facilities, which should help your ASC set goals for improving infection rates.
From: 15 Clinical and 9 Business Office Statistics Your ASC Should Measure Regularly
2. Standardize post-op patient contact. Sandy Berreth, administrator of Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center in Baxter, Minn., and an AAAHC surveyor, says her ASC uses several data gathering tools to make post-op contact with patients.
Forms that guide staff members through post-op phone calls can be helpful in standardizing your process and making sure no questions are forgotten. For example, Ms. Berreth's immediate post-op telephone call sheet indicates that patients should be asked about post-op pain, whether medication has been taken to relieve the pain, whether the patient has experienced nausea and vomiting and a variety of other important questions.
From: 3 Sample Data Gathering Tools: Immediate Post-Op Telephone Call, 30 Day Post-Op Telephone Call and Office Follow-Up Information
3. Shift staff to post-op in the afternoon. If your ASC has a large staff, you may have the luxury of being able to shift staff as the bulk of patients move from the pre-op area in the morning to the post-op area in the afternoon, says Mike Pankey, RN, administrator of the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg (S.C.). Use staff to your advantage by moving team members to the post-op area after lunch, where they will be more useful. This staffing trick can save money by staffing each area appropriately based on patient volume.
From: 5 Steps Large ASCs Can Take to Reduce Costs, Improve Efficiency
4. Use anesthesiologists to unclog post-operative rooms. Your ASC will be able to perform more cases — and therefore make more money — if your pre- and post-op processes are efficient. According to Rajiv Chopra, principal and CFO for The C/N Group, your ASC should use its anesthesiologists to free up post-op rooms by improving patient recovery. According to Mr. Chopra, a skilled anesthesiologist can mean patients feel better faster and can free up the post-op recovery room for the next case. "Your anesthesia can make a difference," Mr. Chopra says. "Once the surgery is done, how quickly are patients recovering so they can leave the facility? A lot of this ties back into anesthesia, and if you don't have an anesthesiologist with that skilled component, it can create challenges for you just from a recovery time perspective." He says safety and quality can be maintained without clogging up the post-op recovery room and delaying the process for other patients.
From: 3 Ways to Improve Your ASC's Processes and Overall Efficiency: Anesthesiologists, Room Turnover and Cash Cycle
5. Ask your nurses to use checklists during patient hand-off. One of the biggest mistakes ASCs make during the post-op process is failing to communicate with the patient's next provider, says Beverly Kircher, owner and CEO of Genessee Associates. Several organizations, including AORN and the World Health Organization, provide guidelines to help nurses through the post-operative hand-off process. Unfortunately, you may find it hard to convince your nurses to use the checklist. "I still find that nurses don't want to do it," Ms. Kirchner says. "They think it's a waste of their time, and that's really getting into problems. They could miss an allergy or not see that the consent form isn't signed appropriately."
Explain the importance of the hand-off process to your nurses, and if it doesn't sink in, require the use of checklists until the practice becomes second nature. Use AORN, the World Health Organization (pdf) and other resources to research proper hand-off procedures that you may have overlooked in the past.
From: 4 Ways to Start Improving ASC Quality Right Now
1. Track post-surgical wound infections. Brian Brown, regional vice president of operations for Meridian Surgical Partners, says every ASC should track post-surgical wound infections and compare those rates to national benchmarks. Tracking post-surgical wound infections can enlighten your ASC on whether your infection rate is increasing, decreasing or remaining stagnant over time. The data can also let you know where you fall compared to similar facilities, which should help your ASC set goals for improving infection rates.
From: 15 Clinical and 9 Business Office Statistics Your ASC Should Measure Regularly
2. Standardize post-op patient contact. Sandy Berreth, administrator of Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center in Baxter, Minn., and an AAAHC surveyor, says her ASC uses several data gathering tools to make post-op contact with patients.
Forms that guide staff members through post-op phone calls can be helpful in standardizing your process and making sure no questions are forgotten. For example, Ms. Berreth's immediate post-op telephone call sheet indicates that patients should be asked about post-op pain, whether medication has been taken to relieve the pain, whether the patient has experienced nausea and vomiting and a variety of other important questions.
From: 3 Sample Data Gathering Tools: Immediate Post-Op Telephone Call, 30 Day Post-Op Telephone Call and Office Follow-Up Information
3. Shift staff to post-op in the afternoon. If your ASC has a large staff, you may have the luxury of being able to shift staff as the bulk of patients move from the pre-op area in the morning to the post-op area in the afternoon, says Mike Pankey, RN, administrator of the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg (S.C.). Use staff to your advantage by moving team members to the post-op area after lunch, where they will be more useful. This staffing trick can save money by staffing each area appropriately based on patient volume.
From: 5 Steps Large ASCs Can Take to Reduce Costs, Improve Efficiency
4. Use anesthesiologists to unclog post-operative rooms. Your ASC will be able to perform more cases — and therefore make more money — if your pre- and post-op processes are efficient. According to Rajiv Chopra, principal and CFO for The C/N Group, your ASC should use its anesthesiologists to free up post-op rooms by improving patient recovery. According to Mr. Chopra, a skilled anesthesiologist can mean patients feel better faster and can free up the post-op recovery room for the next case. "Your anesthesia can make a difference," Mr. Chopra says. "Once the surgery is done, how quickly are patients recovering so they can leave the facility? A lot of this ties back into anesthesia, and if you don't have an anesthesiologist with that skilled component, it can create challenges for you just from a recovery time perspective." He says safety and quality can be maintained without clogging up the post-op recovery room and delaying the process for other patients.
From: 3 Ways to Improve Your ASC's Processes and Overall Efficiency: Anesthesiologists, Room Turnover and Cash Cycle
5. Ask your nurses to use checklists during patient hand-off. One of the biggest mistakes ASCs make during the post-op process is failing to communicate with the patient's next provider, says Beverly Kircher, owner and CEO of Genessee Associates. Several organizations, including AORN and the World Health Organization, provide guidelines to help nurses through the post-operative hand-off process. Unfortunately, you may find it hard to convince your nurses to use the checklist. "I still find that nurses don't want to do it," Ms. Kirchner says. "They think it's a waste of their time, and that's really getting into problems. They could miss an allergy or not see that the consent form isn't signed appropriately."
Explain the importance of the hand-off process to your nurses, and if it doesn't sink in, require the use of checklists until the practice becomes second nature. Use AORN, the World Health Organization (pdf) and other resources to research proper hand-off procedures that you may have overlooked in the past.
From: 4 Ways to Start Improving ASC Quality Right Now