4
Educate
your sur-
geons, too
When new surgeons
join the practice,
they, too, need to be
educated. They can't
use the same orders
they're used to
using in the hospi-
tal. The emphasis
has to be on dis-
charge from the
moment the patient
arrives, as well as
on quality, safety
and satisfaction. It works out great for them because it cuts down
on phone calls to their offices. Happy patients lead to happy sur-
geons — surgeons who want to bring their patients to your facility.
That's how you begin to see growth.
5
Less medication more often
To be guided through the process, patients need to be alert and
responsive after surgery. To manage pain, we use a multimodal
protocol, but we administer a little less medication a little more fre-
quently. Patients are engaged and cooperative instead of being out
cold. Again, we stress to them that they're active participants in their
recovery, which they appreciate. For more complex cases, our pre-op
cocktail also includes Flomax to prevent urinary retention. We use a
bladder scanner in post-op and don't discharge patients until their
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 • 5 7
• DISC REMOVAL The Diagnostic and Interventional Spine Center (DISC) in Marina del
Ray, Calif., and the DISC Surgery Center at Newport Beach, Calif., have performed more
than 9,000 outpatient spine procedures.
