Vermont medical center.
"Once we hit the 3-year
mark, we started experi-
encing consistent issues
across several of the oper-
ating rooms," says Baylor's
Mr. Smith.
Shopping advice
The 51% of our respon-
dents who have OR inte-
gration have several pieces
of advice for those who
have not yet taken the
plunge:
• Take your time and do
your homework. Baylor's
Mr. Smith advises doing
several demos of different
systems and also trialing
several different configura-
tions of each system. Many
respondents recommended including physicians, staffers and your IT
department in this process. Plan to make visits to facilities that have
systems installed and "see how those facilities use them," says
Melinda Noble, MSN, clinical director at Methodist University
Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
• Resist the temptation to buy bells and whistles. "Most are not
needed," says Steve Encardes, OR/materials manager at Surgical
Specialists ASC in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. Instead, purchase only what
you need, but make sure the system is expandable, many respondents
8 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 8
SOURCE: Outpatient Surgery Reader Survey, May 2018, n=241
