The reputation of the Andrews Institute attracts world-class athletes from across the country, as well as area residents, for treatment. The Andrew’s Institute’s ASC, which was opened less than three years ago, performs around 380 procedures monthly and expects continued growth in coming years. The ASC has grown and attracted new patients due to the exceptional experience patients report having at the center — a positive experience that is due largely to the center’s cutting-edge techniques in post-operative pain control, according to Dr. Gregory V. Hickman, MD, medical and anesthesia director at the Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center.
Many anesthesiologists report that pain control through regional blocks has reduced post-operative pain for their patients in addition to reducing PACU times for patients, which improves ASC efficiency. Dr. Hickman performs regional blocks with continuous catheters under ultrasound guidance for most of his cases. Dr. Hickman uses ON-Q C-bloc for his patients, he says. This allows him to minimize patients’ need for narcotics, which can have side effects such as nausea, constipation, urinary retention and grogginess, in the operating room, PACU and after discharge, he says.
“Without a continuous catheter, patients get through the first 12-18 hours fairly easily on their regional block; however, after that they hit a huge amount of intense rebound pain,” says Dr. Hickman. “With a continuous pain pump, patients turn on the pump before they go to bed on the day of their surgery and then receive approximately 100 hours of continuous infusion from the pump that, when empty, they simply remove and throw away.”
Patient satisfaction scores are very high due to the increased comfort, and the ASC is able to generate some additional income through the reimbursements on these pumps, says Dr. Hickman.
Dr. Hickman says the benefits of the center’s use of regional blocks in concert with a continuous pain pump has spread by word-of-mouth and attracted patients to the center. The pain pumps are part of the center’s goal to be “on the forefront of providing the best care possible” to its patients, says Dr. Hickman.
Learn more about the Andrews Institute.
Thank you to Rachel Stein at I-Flow Corp. for arranging the interview with Dr. Hickman. Learn more about I-Flow Corp.
