N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 7
A
dd-ons were a big
problem at our facility
— they accounted for
27% of our cases. Add-ons can
be an expensive hassle, forc-
ing you to shift personnel, pay
overtime, manage stress and
even cancel cases. They can
also force people to hurry and
make careless mistakes.
Turns out, the problem was
in how we scheduled our cases: in a big rush, thanks to physicians
with block time who often held their cases until a day or 2 before sur-
gery and then added several patients to the schedule all at once.
Naturally, that didn't always leave time for pre-admission testing or
for dealing with patients who required anesthesia consultations. The
result was an overbooked schedule with lots of add-ons.
We reduced our percentage of add-ons to 10% by asking our sur-
geons to schedule elective cases at least 3 days in advance. We also
created a scheduling checklist so surgeons' schedulers and office
managers knew what information we needed in order to put a patient
on the schedule — and which patients we couldn't add to the sched-
ule just yet.
Barbara J. Holder, RN, BSN, LHRM, CAPA
Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center
Gulf Breeze, Fla.
bholder@andrewsinstitutesc.com
One Simple Change Will Reduce Your Add-Ons
• ADVANCE NOTICE Asking your surgeons to schedule patients at least
3 days in advance could result in fewer add-on cases.
