Formula for successful cost control includes hard data plus surgeon champion
With decreasing Medicare reimbursements and increasing pressure to reduce costs, OR leaders everywhere are looking for creative solutions to balance their budgets. At Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH) in Philadelphia, standardizing surgical mesh looked like a way to save a bundle, and indeed a $1.5 million savings over a 3-year…
Firm policies and the right procedures tip the cost-benefit balance toward flip rooms
We spoke recently with surgery department leaders at an academic medical center in the Midwest. One of their biggest concerns was a challenge faced by many ORs today: “Flip rooms are just killing us.” Most surgeons prefer the efficiency and revenue potential of a flip room schedule. But for hospitals,…
Learning from Leaning: Case cart readiness improves after barriers are removed
Bristol Hospital had a supply problem. Instruments were often missing from case carts, so nurses had to scramble to find the items on the morning of a scheduled procedure. Staff wondered whether the problem was caused by shortages, but a Lean process revealed an entirely different scenario and forged a…
Multiple OR multidisciplinary team huddles promote ownership of process improvements
Huddles are hot. Experts cite them as effective patient safety tools, and many hospitals have implemented them on nursing units at the start of the shift. The perioperative services team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, broadened the huddle concept to include several disciplines and a structured format,…
Competency matrix modeled on ski trail difficulty validates staff skills at Vail center
Surgeon concerns about staff competency and high turnover of surgical technologists at Vail Valley Medical Center (VVMC), Vail, Colorado, prompted the development of a staffing skills competency matrix. VVMC is a community hospital with 4 rooms in its main OR, 4 rooms in its adjoining surgery center, and 4 rooms…
Figure out future needs and goals before breaking ground on your new facility
Less than 2 years after the New England Baptist Outpatient Care Center was imagined, its doors opened in September 2013. The sparkling new ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in the Boston suburb of Dedham, Massachusetts, isn’t far from the country’s oldest timber-framed house, the Fairbanks House, built in 1637—long before building…
ASCs part of the new face of healthcare
With fewer new ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) forming each year and more merging back into hospitals, it has become popular to describe the industry as “mature.” It’s not yet time for an obituary, however. Improved technology, bolstered by healthcare reform, is driving a transition to outpatient treatment, and, when it…
Rounding tool off to a good start in improving patient satisfaction
A mobile, web-based rounding tool is allowing the perioperative leadership team at Vail Valley Medical Center (VVMC) in Vail, Colorado, to collect, analyze, and report on information gathered from surgeons, staff, and patients to improve quality of care and move toward high reliability. Software designed by MyRounding Solutions in Littleton,…
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Career Center
- Director- Clinical Operations, Operating Room, Riley Children's Hospital - Indiana University Health - Indianapolis, IN
- CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON STANFORD MEDICINE - Stanford University, School of Medicine - Corvallis, OR
- PEDIATRIC CARDIAC SURGEON - Stanford University, School of Medicine - Honolulu, HI
- Tampa Vascular Surgeon - Vein ans Vascular Institute - Tampa, FL