Outpatient Surgery Magazine

OR Excellence Awards - September 2020 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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makes sense in our facility," she says. "For example, we now have reusable I/A tips, which vastly reduce costs per case. As long as surgical technicians and sterile processing techs have been trained on the proper care and reprocessing of the tips, we'll get longevity out of each one without having to waste $7 to $8 per case on single-use options." • Improved instrument care. A move to reusables is a money-loser if proper instrument care isn't performed, and Eye 35 proactively stays on top of this issue. Recently, it performed a quality study to determine why its reusable phaco tips weren't lasting the advertised 20 uses. "We found we need- ed to train our technicians on how to handle them postoperatively," says Ms. McCafferty. Besides retraining techs, the sterile processing staff was supplied with recommended cleaning and reprocessing tools that are more delicate on instru- ments. As a result, Eye 35 reduced its replacement and repair costs. In 2019, instrument repairs cost the center more than $1,000. After staff were retrained last December, repair costs through mid- S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 3 9 HONORABLE MENTION Staking Regional Claim to a Niche Specialty Aspirus Iron River (Mich.) Hospital & Clinics understands that differentiating its brand is vital in this rapidly evolving, highly competitive healthcare world. In 2015, it launched an anti-reflux program at its criti- cal access hospital to treat patients who suffer from gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) and laryngo-pharyngeal reflux (LPR). "We did it knowing that we needed a specialty for long- term viability in the current market," explains David Lorenson, RN, CNOR, the facili- ty's surgical services manager. "That thinking has paid off with a program that was high-volume in its first year and continues to be today." Aspirus Iron River's runaway success is evi- denced by its patient count. According to Mr. Lorenson, a high-volume anti-reflux center is defined by 25 interventional procedures per year. Aspirus Iron River perform at least 70 pro- cedures annually. "Since launching the program, we've seen more than 730 patients with reflux symptoms, and performed over 330 intervention procedures," says Mr. Lorenson. Part of the program's success is due to hav- ing put into place a strong diagnostic process alongside its market-leading surgical service, says Mr. Lorenson. "Performing both diagnos- tics and interventions with the same clinical team has created an environment where staff are highly engaged and thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the patient experience," he explains. "We've been successful in building a profitable and efficient program. It has been an amazing journey so far." — Joe Paone SPECIALTY RECOGNITION Aspirus Iron River's anti-reflux team poses with Tyler Hughes, MD, FACS (in light blue suit), secretary of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Hughes endorsed the facility's program and invited it to be part of an ACS pilot program. Aspirus Iron River (Mich.) Hospital & Clinics

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