Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/1316512
er wave is coming our way," says Director Carmen Wilson, RN, BSN, CIC. "The CDC and the state department of health tell us what the latest prac- tices should be. We add them to our workflow, and two days later we receive another update with new tasks to implement and report to regulators." Proliance Eastside evolved its symptoms screen- ings method in the foyer into a "mini COVID clinic," at which a medical assistant or registered nurse swabs patients and sends the swabs to labs for test- ing. However, while the center has managed to acquire a rapid testing device, they've yet to secure the cartridges that are supposed to accompany it. "The changes are happening quickly, but being able to implement them quickly has been challenging," says Ms. Wilson. On March 16, the multi-specialty ASC reduced its caseload to about five cases a day performed in a single OR. When the governor allowed more elec- tive surgeries to resume about two months later, the incremental ramp-up to a full workload began, which brought new challenges. A screener position had to be created and staffed to test patients and staff members at the door. The mini COVID clinic required new processes and staff as well. "We're back to being fully functional, but chal- lenges remain that add up," says Ms. Wilson. "ASCs are small, so social distancing requirements are dif- ficult. We've fit-tested our employees for masks, but the N95s we can get aren't always the ones that fit best. We have on-site kits to test how masks fit on the fly if we need to." Now, despite ICUs filling up again around Proliance Eastside, Ms. Wilson is planning on keeping the facility oper- ating at full capacity by continuing to make on-the-fly adjustments to how her team operates. "Previously, we would wait to get all the information needed to make an informed decision," she says. "Now, there's no time for that. A decision we made yesterday and put into place today could be changing tomorrow." Ms. Wilson says that being forced to make too many changes too quickly has taught her the importance of keeping her staff informed at every step. "We need to make sure that what we're doing is correct," says Ms. Wilson. "Right now, in a pandemic, we have no choice but to make changes quickly to meet immediate needs. Once things go back to normal, we're definitely going to take a step back and reevaluate the deci- sion-making process moving forward." Surgery and social justice In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, many healthcare professionals took an honest look at the racial and cultural makeup of patient care teams. Some didn't like what they saw. That's a pos- itive development, according to Fabian Johnston, MD, MHS, an associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. "The tragic events of this year evolved into a national conversation, and created an awareness of the need for more diversity and equity," says Dr. Johnston. "The stark images of police brutality prompted many people to be more introspective than they had been in the past, and question what impact the overall lack of diversity has on our country." Surgery is a multidisciplinary specialty in which professionals with various clinical backgrounds work closely together to coordinate the care of patients and achieve optimal outcomes. There's also an inherent dichotomy in the profession that can make change difficult. 2 6 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 TAKING A STAND Many surgical professionals began to address the lack of diversity, equality and inclusion in today's ORs. Northwell Health