Outpatient Surgery Magazine

OR Excellence Awards 2016 - September 2016 - 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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1 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 T he young orthopods are bringing lots of complex cases to your facility, but they're booking them later in the day, sometimes not starting a 4-hour rotator cuff reconstruction, for example, until 3 p.m. This puts the patient in recovery until 8 p.m., and staff who clocked in at 6 a.m. — and haven't had any relief — aren't heading home until 9 p.m. It's a good problem to have, says Michealena Grangruth, CASC, the administrator of the Blue Springs Surgery Center in Orange City, Fla., but it's putting a strain on her facility. "They're good cases and the patients have great outcomes," she says, "but do you really want to send your patient home in the dark?" Bound by their morning clinic schedules and their overnight trauma call, orthopods are more likely than other surgeons to schedule longer and more complex cases later in the afternoon, says Ms. Grangruth. "We have tried to get them to start earlier, but they can't and we don't have 23-hour stay in Florida. The latest we would ever want to start a case is no later than 4 p.m., but we would prefer 3 p.m." Her solutions: Offer the new "heavy hitters" earlier blocks and add PRN nurses to work some afternoon shifts to help cover the later cases so she doesn't overwhelm her small staff. When to Start the Last Case of the Day? • HOW LATE IS TOO LATE? Surgeons who book cases later in the day can put a strain on your staff. Ideas Work That

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