Does Your Facility Have Surgeon Appeal?
The little things sometimes matter most to your docs.
I
t sounds like dating advice for the desperate: How do you entice
surgeons to bring cases to your facility and keep them loyal? But in
the business of surgery, you don't fill your ORs unless you make
your docs feel special — and maybe even spoil them a little.
"The happier we make our surgeons within our walls, the more likely
they'll make us their No. 1 place to perform their cases," says Francine
Daley, RN, CNOR, former executive director of the AtlantiCare Surgery
Centers in southern New Jersey.
How do you do that? Make their lives as easy as possible, says Ms.
Daley. Tops on the list? Guaranteed block time, ease of scheduling and
an accommodating spirit. If a doc wants an early start — "and by that I
mean 6:30 a.m. start time," says Ms. Daley — do it. If a surgeon asks for
2 ORs and you have the room, do it. And, of course, surround your docs
with a great staff that know the surgeon's routine, instrument by instru-
ment, suture by suture, even refreshment by refreshment.
"I knew my docs so well I would have their drink and snack of choice
out for them so they didn't have to get it and to help them move their
days along," says Margaret Sherman, RN, BSN, clinical director of the
Hamilton (N.J.) Endoscopy & Surgery Center.
Executive Editor Daniel Cook takes you inside the mind of a surgeon
in "What Surgeons Want" on page 22. This month's cover story dives
deep into what matters most to surgeons when deciding where to bring
their cases. Some things are obvious. They all want on-time starts, fast
turnover times, an A+ staff, and the best equipment and supplies.
But don't overlook the little things that really show you care about your
docs: their taste in music, their size in scrubs, their choice for lunch. "I
once went out and got kosher food for a doc," says Ms. Sherman.
Now that's sweating the small stuff. But no gesture that shows you
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Editor's Page
Dan O'Connor
