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Patients are sicker and heavier.
How sick is too sick and how heavy is too heavy?
We're successfully caring for high-acuity patients because our
skill sets have evolved dramatically over the past 10 years.
Anesthesia providers ultimately decide which patients enter
the OR. That's often looked upon favorably by nursing and
patient safety advocates, but sometimes not so favorably
by those who want patients captured in the revenue
stream. Balancing patient safety with convenience is
imperative for all locations of surgical care.
What challenges do anesthesia providers face as more
complex procedures move to same-day surgical facilities?
The better our abilities get, the more we're going to
push the envelope of shifting patients to the outpatient
arena. We're honing our post-op pain management capabili-
ties and our discharge skills are getting better. When we put
all that together, more challenging procedures will migrate
safely to ambulatory facilities.
he Gatekeepers of Ambulatory Surgery
T
Meena S. Desai, MD
Anesthesia society leader and patient safety advocate
Dr. Desai (mdesai@novaanesthesia.com) is the president of the
Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia and managing partner of Nova
Anesthesia Professionals in Villanova, Pa. She's also vice chair of the
board of the AAAHC and an active member of the ambulatory surgical
committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
