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/568943
1 4 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T Have a cell phone policy for staff and patients While you should have a policy in place that spells out if and how staff and providers use cell phones in the OR — for example, they're okay as a reference tool, but never for social media and per- sonal calls — it can be a bit more complicated when it comes to patients. Some facilities allow, or even encourage, patients to record post-op instructions. While good in theory, it's important to note that recording entire conversations can be problematic. Aside from acci- dentally recording something that shouldn't be heard, if the phone is hacked, lost or stolen, that personal info can easily be obtained and spread. Instead, I recommend facilities ask patients to first inform the nurse or doctor that they want to record. Then, that provider can explain to the patient that while items like post-op instructions or a summary of information are good to record, items like their history and physical aren't necessary and can pose a potential privacy problem. Cell phones are here to stay, so having a plan in place that both helps and protects the patient-doctor relationship is key. Know how to handle disruptive docs The days of surgeons losing their temper and throwing equip- ment at staff may be over, but there are still short fuses in the OR, as you can see in the case above. Some facilities are pros at handling this — others, not so much. To start, make sure you have a rigorous screening process for both surgeons and staff before hiring or allowing them to perform cases. It seems simple, but this step is often overlooked and an easy way to prevent misbehaving personnel. A bigger problem can occur when the doc in question is either a physician-owner or one who brings in a high volume of cases. It can 2 1