1 5 6
O U T P A T 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 | M A R C H 2 0 1 5
Beat-the-Clock Surgery
The never-ending pressure to perform is wearing thin.
S
ince we moved out of
our main hospital to a
freestanding surgery
center, efficiency is better,
start times are more pre-
dictable and anesthesia is real-
ly bringing their "A" game.
Trouble is I have to work like a
jackrabbit on steroids. If I
don't enter the room for my last case before 3 p.m., I am threatened to
take my last case to that dreaded abyss known as the main hospital.
Great: teaching is drop-kicked, I have enough caffeine in my body to make
Mrs. Olson (the "Folgers Coffee Woman") envious and lunch is reduced to
3 cashews. The pressure to perform is packaged into several segments:
• The pre-emptive strike. Whenever I enter the surgicenter in the morn-
ing and am greeted by the head nurse with the words, "We have to
talk," I immediately re-experience the dread I felt when I was called to
Mother Superior's office in grade school. This is not good. The head
nurse then proceeds to explain that next week's caseload is "unrealis-
tic." Ouch. The exhortation to change my schedule is generally fruit-
less since I am hesitant to disrupt the schedules of patients who have
waited several weeks for their surgery.
• The gloom-and-doom forecast. On especially busy days, the first
encounter with the charge nurse results with comments along the
lines of, "We are watching you today!" or "I hope you brought your
skates!" or even better, "Who does your scheduling, Speedy
Gonzales?" What a way to start the day!
• Pace call. I love the pace call, whereupon early in the afternoon the
C U T T I N G R E M A R K S
John D. Kelly IV, MD
z NEED FOR SPEED Extreme throughput is the new mantra.
