• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Survey provides validation of a job well done

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, October 27, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

Every Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) survey experience is different, says Administrator Ellen Cooper, RN, CNOR, CASC, of Executive Woods Ambulatory Surgery Center in Albany, NY. Between working at other AAAHC-accredited facilities and recently completing her second AAAHC survey at Executive Woods, Cooper knows the importance of continual and comprehensive survey readiness.

"Your survey agenda is influenced by the interests of the surveyors," she says. Continually prepare for your survey to make sure all areas of your practice are in good shape, she adds.

Ongoing commitment to quality
Executive Woods continues to improve its quality assurance (QA) programs, which the AAAHC encourages. In the past, the ASC has performed studies on areas such as patient satisfaction, cost-effectiveness, and patient` rides. The patient rides study is a great example of how improvements can be made to problem areas in your organization.

This study was performed based on two trends that were identified and linked together. First, staff recognized a problem with patients not leaving at time of discharge. "We were finding that patients were being dropped off at 8 a.m. for their procedures but weren't being picked up until the end of the workday," says Cooper.

The second obstacle was in the recovery room. "Our policy states that we give discharge instructions to patients and their caregivers in the recovery room before they are released," Cooper says. Because many caregivers arrived late in the day to pick up the patients, staff had to keep them in the recovery room for extended periods of time, creating gridlock for other patients and slowing the center's flow.

Staff suspected the two problems were linked, but needed to gather data to be sure. Cooper began audits in the recovery room by asking questions such as the following:

• Was the patient ready for discharge at the predetermined time?
• Was the caregiver on site to take the patient home?
• If the patient's ride wasn't there, could he or she be tracked down easily by the phone number provided?

"We didn't gather earth-shattering numbers, but we learned enough to see that the two situations were related," Cooper said.

With enough data, the center developed new guidelines for patient rides. Depending on the type of anesthesia and procedure the patient received, staff would give the patient's caregiver an approximate time to return to pick up the patient.

For example, if the patient is the first case of the day or will receive straight local anesthesia, staff ask the ride to stay through the procedure. If the patient receives regional anesthesia, rides are asked to return about 45 minutes after the anticipated surgery end time to take the patient home.

Cooper says these new, specific guidelines have improved the backlog of patients in the recovery room. But quality doesn't end after one study. The center continues to watch these trends and make modifications to the patient ride guidelines as necessary.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive