J U LY 2 0 1 5 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 6 9
Patient-centered care and healthcare transparency are emphasized now more than ever. How
do those factors impact anesthesia care?
It's been decided politically and socially that health care will become consumer-
oriented. That means outcome data need to be captured and advertised.
Transparency is about outcomes as much as it is about cost. When you're good,
you need relevancy and numbers to back it up. Patient selection is a large part
of good patient outcomes. Appropriate patient selection sets up quality out
comes, and you need to capture those results.
What innovations are improving the way anesthesia is delivered?
Multimodal pain management is the simplest to implement and the hardest to mon-
itor. It's not something we're getting paid more for, so some centers opt for easier
pain techniques. Ultrasound lets providers administer more complex regional
blocks and video laryngoscopes have added a much-needed degree of safety in the
outpatient setting.
What are your thoughts on Sedasys?
It's shown to be useful in particular settings, but it still has difficulties managing
low oxygen saturation levels, declining end-tidal CO
2
measures and patients
who lose consciousness. There are a lot of questions yet to be answered, espe-
cially when neither safety or efficiency are significantly enhanced.
What excites you about the future of anesthesia?
I'm excited to be part of a specialty that has actually pursued and achieved safer
outcomes over the last 20 years. We've always been invested in safe patient
care, and that appeals to me.
OSM
