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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
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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.