OSE_1210_part1_Layout 1 10/8/12 8:29 AM Page 29
Hard data make it easier for everyone to make decisions.
Personnel costs should also be in
ratio with production — no more
than 30% of outlay. Almost every
facility I visit has a degree of over
staffing. Use staff downtime to conduct those safety and outcomes
audits, to double-check supply
invoices, or price out that shiny new
piece of equipment a surgeon wants.
On low-census days, offer to let nurses go home early, unpaid, if they
Reader Survey
don't want to stick around and work
If the presidential election
on value-added projects. Use the savwere held today, how would
ings to send staff to conferences and
to upgrade equipment. OSM
Mr. Earnhart
(searnhart@earnhart.com) is the president and CEO of Earnhart & Associates
in Houston, Texas.
you vote?
Barack Obama
29%
Mitt Romney
64%
Undecided
5%
Abstain
2%
SOURCE: Outpatient Surgery
Magazine InstaPoll,
September 2012, n=1,308
O C T O B E R 2012 | 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
2 9
