Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Would You Operate On This Patient? - October 2015 - 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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2 5 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 | 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 Got a great idea for saving time or money, ensuring safety or satisfaction, improving efficiency or organization? Tell us the details at ideas@outpatientsurgery.net. them straight to pre-op instead of sitting them in the waiting room. Once they've changed into their gown, an admissions rep with a computer workstation on a mobile cart can visit to complete the process in the pre-op bay. 4. VIP TREATMENT FOR BLOCKS. Another way to speed intake is by triag- ing the patients who'll be receiving regional anesthe- sia out of the wait- ing room. Highlight them on the day's schedule so your reception- ist can alert pre-op staff as soon as they arrive. Then move them to the front of the line to give your anesthesia providers enough time to get their nerve blocks start- ed as soon as possible. 5. SHOW THE WAY. When there's more than one surgeon's schedule running at the same time, pre-op can get a bit chaotic in terms of identification and the order of events. Hanging laminated signs that indi- cate which patients belong to which physi- cians, and which ones are next for surgery, on IV poles in pre-op bays can help to save time and avoid confusion in the process. 6. READY THE REFRESHMENTS. Don't wait until your surgery patients are in PACU to find out whether they want apple juice or ginger ale, saltines or graham crackers. Physicians are going to want to see them first, and that will delay nurses from asking for patients' preferences, which could bottleneck throughput. Instead, take patients' orders while you're admitting them in pre-op, and you'll have the nutrition for your whole slate of patients lined up and ready as soon as they're out of the OR.

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