Same-Day Surgery 2006-01-01

In light of 2 criminal cases, how do you ensure employees don’t abuse patients?

An anesthesiologist is charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct after two patients say he assaulted them while they were awaiting outpatient surgery.1

Take these steps to cut liability risk

When an employee is reported to be acting suspiciously around partially clothed and/or semi-conscious patients, investigate and interview the patient and/or the employee reporting the suspicious actions, as well as the employee accused, experts suggest.

Boost patient satisfaction: Keep families informed

What staff position can be described as beneficial to your outpatient surgery program by 82% of your surgeons, 93% of your RN circulators, and 99% of your PACU staff, and 100% of your preop staff? And by the way, this same staff person also is described as very beneficial by 88% of your patients.

Nurse liaison must communicate well

The staff in the pre-op area see the nurse liaisons interaction with patients and families as having a calming effect on the patient and family members, especially when there are delays, and [post-anesthesia care unit] nurses are relieved that the family is being taken care of so they can concentrate solely on the patients needs, explains Maureen Spangler, RN, CNOR, director of perioperative services at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, SC.

Adopt a written anti-harassment policy

When you update your policies to address sexual harassment, change them to prohibit all forms of unlawful harassment, advises Brian A. Lapps Jr., JD, member at Waller Lansden in Nashville, TN. Lapps, along with E. Brent Hill, JD, also a member at Waller Lansden, spoke at the most recent annual meeting of the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association.

Don’t simply ignore repeated offenses

With repeated offenses on physician harassment of staff, consider sending a formal letter saying a physicians behavior is not acceptable, suggests Anita S. Lambert-Gale, RN, MES, vice president of clinical operations at Nashville, TN-based HealthMark Partners, which co-owns and manages surgery centers with physicians and hospitals.

Same-Day Surgery Manager: Boost your staff’s morale with these ideas

Why do most of us not have maids that come in and clean our home? Too expensive, most of us would say. Others may say it is not necessary, but generally we would rather do it ourselves and save that money for other occasions, right?

What do you need for sleep apnea patients?

According to new practice guidelines from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, when patients are at increased perioperative risk from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the facility should have emergency difficult airway equipment, respiratory care equipment [nebulizers, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) equipment, and ventilators], radiology facilities (for portable X-rays), and clinical laboratory facilities (for blood gases and electrolytes).

CMS adds 32 codes, cuts 10 from ASC list

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has changed the Medicare list of procedures approved to be performed in ambulatory surgery centers, according to the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association.

SDS Accreditation Update: Delays, postoperative complications rank high in percentage of sentinel events

Although outpatient surgery managers often focus on avoiding wrong-site surgery, they should be equally concerned about delays in treatment and operative/post-op complications, which together cause sentinel events that are reported more often than wrong-site surgery.

SDS Accreditation Update: Emergency preparedness standards, others change

Emergency preparedness becomes a more important part of the accreditation survey, according to revisions made to the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Cares 2006 standards.

SDS Accreditation Update: How one agency meets privileging standards

Organizations accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) consistently struggle with the credentialing and the privileging standards, says Stephen Kaufman, RN, senior director of accreditation at the AAAHC.

SDS Accreditation Update: Fixed performance areas listed for random surveys

Although the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations begins unannounced surveys for all organizations in 2006, it does not mean that random unannounced surveys will end.

SDS Accreditation Update: JCR offers do-not-use abbreviation kit

Outpatient surgery managers can get a jump on reminding staff members not to use certain abbreviations with a new toolkit available from Joint Commission Resources (JCR), an affiliate of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

Same-Day Surgery – January 1, 2006

January 1, 2006