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/1324432
6. Maintain training Regular staff training require- ments didn't get put on hold because of this generational pandemic. In fact, the oppo- site happened. Mandatory training had to be completed prior to reopening after the shutdown and every time a policy or procedure was changed. Start by educating staff on "simple" things such as wearing masks, social dis- tancing and new cleaning pro- cedures. Conduct drills required by CMS and your accrediting organizations first. Be sure to stress that overall efficiencies will be affected. New cleaning proce- dures will affect everyone's turnover times. Your surgeons may not want to hear this, but that's the reality of the situation. Focus on getting your entire OR team comfortable with the expanded protocols, then look for opportunities to improve upon them. 7. Work with local agencies There's a very good chance you'll have to interact with your local department of health at some time during the pandemic (if you haven't already) — especially if your facility has a positive COVID-19 contact. Your local, county and state agencies can provide real-time information and relevant data, so reach out to them for help setting up a pre-surgery screening program or extracting data from your software system to run reports on which staff inter- reacted with patients. If a patient tests positive after surgery, report it to the department of health. If a staff member or provider develops COVID-19 after working with patients, report it to the department of health and conduct contact tracing. OSM Remember, they're not seeing the updated regulations every day. Be focused with your communication, so staff know the why behind the changes. If you tell them to do some- thing one day and then change it the next day, give them a reason: "The CDC came down with a new rec- ommendation," or "CMS has implemented new guidelines." Be transparent with patients, too. They often forget visitors aren't allowed in the facility. While they may be told about the new rule on the pre- op call, they might not remem- ber on the day of their surgery. Explain why you're limiting visitors, and why masks are required. When you're explaining why patients must wear masks until they enter the OR, review the prop- er way to wear them. Place large signs explaining the visitation rules in prominent entry points. 5. Focus on the financials Most facilities, especially ASCs, weren't ready for the impact COVID-19 had on their cash flow. Many didn't have a line of credit or a backup plan. They'd always had good cash flow and never had a problem paying their bills. Then suddenly they were shut down for two months. This pandemic taught us to have detailed, facility-specific contingency plans in place in the event elective surgeries are canceled again. On the patient side, they may have lost their jobs. Maybe they haven't met their annual deductible, and can't pay their copay and coinsurance. Plus, many patients don't understand their insurance plans. They choose an inexpensive monthly plan, not realizing it carries a $10,000 deductible, and you have to inform them they're responsible for the whole amount. The earlier you can let patients know about their financial obligations, and the more creative you can be with payment arrangements, the fewer last-minute can- celed cases you're likely to have. 6 • S U P P L E M E N T T O 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 • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT Leaders set the tone and influence how their staff responds to stressful situations. Ms. Geier (ann.geier@sisfirst.com), a longtime member of Outpatient Surgery Magazine's Editorial Board, is chief nursing officer at Surgical Information Systems in Alpharetta, Ga.