1. On-time case starts. Surgery centers are by nature more efficient than hospitals, and surgeons expect to take advantage of that efficiency when they invest or bring their cases to the center. Lynn Dugan, RN, BSN, administrator of Paramount Surgery Center of Mesa (Ariz.), says when a surgeon first arrives at her surgery center, she sets clear expectations about timeliness and explains that when one surgeon is late, it affects the other scheduled cases. She then monitors physician start times and brings the data to the governing board to review.
“If it’s just random and minor and we know that, that’s fine, but if it’s chronic, the governing board might make the decision to have a financial penalty toward the physician causing delays,” she says. Ms. Dugan says she has also given her director of nursing and charge nurse authority to bump the chronically late surgeon if necessary.
Read the full story in Becker’s ASC Review on physician priorities.
