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O P H T H A L M O L O G Y
As a commodity, "being the best" isn't as easy for administrators to
obtain for their docs as, say, high-quality equipment is. Still, you can
work with your surgeons to make their procedures that much more
efficient. "All the steps of surgery build on each other," says Stephen
Vold, MD, chief executive officer of Vold Vision in Fayetteville, Ark.
Take, for instance, the benefits that a well-trained staff can contribute to OR throughput, he says, or the selection of surgical instruments on a tray. "Does your surgeon need 15 instruments for a case?
Or does he only ever use 3 or 5?" Double-ended tools, such as an
instrument with a chopper on one end and an inserting-positioning
hook on the other, could also save time and promote efficiency.
The ability to control staffing, purchasing and other components of
the clinical process gives physician-owned, and especially single-specialty, surgical facilities an advantage on this front, says Dr.
Cunningham, as "standardizing surgery is a big step toward minimizing patient complications."
Capsular
rupture
"One thing you want
to try to avoid is capsular rupture and the
OPEN WIDE If a pre-existing condition inhibits pharmaceutical dilation, mechanical dilation of the pupil may be necessary.
8 4 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E | A P R I L 2 013
resulting vitreous
loss," says Dr. Vold.
