Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

In & Out - May 2017 - 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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5 Tips to Avoid Anesthesia Lawsuits Your best defense is to operate within the boundaries of good sense. A majority of anesthesia providers will face a lawsuit during their careers, but most claims are preventable. As I often remind our younger staffers, don't step beyond the boundaries of good sense. Adhering to these 5 rules of thumb is a good place to start. Stay true to the basics. Most anesthesia-related malpractice cases probably could have been avoided by adhering to the basic principles. For example, never using supplemental oxygen near an ignition source, as we saw in the case of an elderly patient's face igniting at an Oregon surgery center (osmag.net/E7zrNR). It's often production pressure that causes errors. Some facilities are all too will- ing to take shortcuts: not taking time outs or letting the surgeon steamroll you because you're afraid to make him wait until it's safe to proceed. In anesthesiology, speed kills. Unless there's a situation involving loss of airway or arterial bleeding, slow it down. Don't normalize deviant behavior. A facility's profitability depends on its ability to maintain a strong case volume. That's all well and good — until a dollar amount is placed above patient safety. If a patient comes in with a BMI of 55 who's clearly not appropriate for an outpatient setting and you say, "Okay, let's do this," you may be putting the patient, the facility and yourself in jeopardy. 1 2 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 Medical Malpractice William Landess, MS, JD, CRNA • LIFE-CHANGING Going through a malpractice suit has caused many clinicians to consider careers outside of medicine. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN, CNOR

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