Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Is Your Turnover Team Fast Enough? - August 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.

Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/362207

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 53 of 124

5 4 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 | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 A C C R E D I T A T I O N 1. The fire alarm. Stephanie Reed, MSN, RN, CNOR, nurse manag- er at Ophthalmology Associates in Lutherville, Md., and her staff assumed it wouldn't be necessary to disrupt and frighten the numerous other medical practices that share her building. They assumed wrong. "We were cited for a tabletop drill because we didn't physically pull the fire alarm, even though the staff had correctly identified the need to pull the alarm in a real emergency," she says. "When I explained to the sur- veyor that we're in a multi-use build- ing and that it wasn't feasible, he said it didn't matter. He cited the EP (Elements of Performance), which was in the hospital book. I showed him the ambulatory book, which didn't have that and he said he'd have to check with headquarters. I knew it was sticking when we got the final report back." 2. 7 feet, 11 inches apart. Technically, of course, surveyors aren't supposed to be in the business of cutting people slack, but does that mean there can be no gray areas at all? "Would you believe we got cited for having our waste receptacles off by 1 inch?" asks one facility administrator. "According to the fire code, garbage receptacles and dirty laundry receptacles have to be 8 feet away from each other. They literally pulled out a tape measure, and we got cited!" If that kind of attention to detail surprises you, imagine the eagle eye (and consummate nerve?) it took to cite this facility: "As we FALSE ALARM Surveyors might want you to actually pull the fire alarm — even if you share your building with other practices.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Is Your Turnover Team Fast Enough? - August 2014 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine