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S P I N E
S U R G E R Y
pedics and podiatry cases), microscopes, instrument trays, retractors
and power tools. When we were ready to start, we asked the surgeons
what they needed — what tools and features would provide them the
necessary comfort level? What were their must-haves? We didn't stop
there, though; we also researched what other spine facilities across
the nation were using, what they liked, what they didn't.
The surgeons were asked to trial several versions of absolutely
everything. In the meantime, we borrowed equipment from other hospitals and ASCs, and got loaners from vendors while we were carrying
out the trials. We made the usual attempts to leverage vendors' quotes
against one another to negotiate pricing.
In the end, we got a new, compact microscope that was just what
we needed for the ASC. It'll cover anything we do here — or may do
in the future — and none of the surgeons had any objections after trying it out. The same happened with the C-arm, which is flexible to our
other specialties' needs, and is state-of-the-art for the ASC setting.
The trial for the drills — and this is why I can't stress enough that
you should take it slow — came up a hit on the first one. We could
have ended it there, but we insisted they try all 3. Turns out, the surgeons liked the third a lot better. I'm glad we held out, and didn't
waste almost $30,000 per drill on something they'd have wanted to
upgrade later. Additionally, we developed and tweaked our instrument
trays over 6 months to prevent clutter and ensure rapid case turnover
when the time came.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2012
