ease and stents and a history of myocardial infarction. They run
through what they'd do if the patient ran into trouble in recovery.
During drills, the screening nurse serves as an impartial observer,
monitoring the performance of the participants and offering critical
feedback on how they performed. "She's an extra set of expert eyes,"
says Dr. Vitcov. "That's a big deal if you have enough staff to make it
happen."
Staff gathers every other Friday for in-services or to run through the
emergency drills. "We run every drill to near completion," says Dr.
Vitcov. "The only thing we don't do is call EMS." After each drill is
completed, they review what they did well and not so well, and
include input from the screening nurse.
It's all hands on deck when patients are in jeopardy, says Dr. Vitcov.
Every person in the facility, including members of the business office,
has a role to play during each emergency response scenario and they
act it out during each drill.
Cautious approach
Dr. Vitcov constantly balances helping to run a revenue-generating
center and ensuring the safety of the patients he clears for surgery. He
works with his co-medical
director and the center's
screening nurse to meticu-
lously evaluate patients
before they're scheduled
for surgery.
"We have a very sophisti-
cated and fairly conserva-
tive patient screening
process whereby all
5 7
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T
z SPOT ON Co-medical director Daniel Perlov, MD (left),
and surgeon Keith Donatto, MD, mark the surgical site
before a patient is brought to the OR.
Steven
Vitcov,
MD
