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What Will the OR of the Future Look Like? - July 2014 - 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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John D. Kelly IV, MD CUTTING REMARKS 1 1 2 O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U LY 2 0 1 4 Cut Costs, Not Corners Shaving expenses in the OR can be a hard pill to swallow. 0 ur ORs have been striving to reduce over- head. The days of cost- cutting are here to stay, but it's sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. • Recycling instruments. Months ago, when our OR went on a recycling spree, we used reusable arthroscopic shavers and burrs. The idea certainly had some merit: Why should an expensive shaver blade be tossed after only 5 minutes of usage? Several problems ensued. Some shaver blades sounded as if they were on life support and removed tissue at glacial speed. Some of the burrs were duller than a visit from the in-laws. Not to mention, rumors began to circulate that trace amounts of a previous patient's DNA could be detected in the recesses of the shaver tips. Great, we saved a few bucks on the shoulder scope, but the patient contracted mad cow disease! • Standard shoulder anchor. Our administration has long urged our shoulder surgeons to use the same implant system. This is truly a tall order to fill. One commonly used anchor set has more parts than my hard drive. A rotator cuff anchor used by a colleague is straightforward and simple, but it has the pullout strength of sugarless bubble gum. Plus, since the material science of implants has exploded, the minute I may decide on one anchor, another stronger, more user-friendly and, yes, more effec- tive anchor manifests. • Reusable gowns. Some time ago, we trialed recyclable OR gowns; yes, gowns that could be washed and used repeatedly. Truly a throw- back to my days of residency. Now I have no issues with reusable gar- OSE_1408_part3_Layout 1 7/3/14 8:46 AM Page 112

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