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After a talk I gave last month, someone came up to me after the meeting and asked me this question, "After all the years you have been doing this [surgical consulting], what are some of the things you have learned?"
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In this study of a large administrative database, the incidence of selected complications in patients diagnosed with sleep apnea (SA) was compared to that in patients undergoing similar surgical procedures who were not diagnosed with SA.
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Seemingly, no one is happy with his or her block schedule at the hospital or the surgery center. After spending too much time on this issue with our own centers and hearing about others concerns, it is, quite honestly, irritating that such a simple process can be such a conundrum for most everyone.
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A $3.3 million verdict against a surgeon who apologized to his patient's family for her death is leading some outpatient surgery professionals to wonder if the push for apologies and transparency has a dark side. Are managers encouraging physicians to say something that actually will work against them in court?
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A patient arrived from an assisted living facility with a documented allergy on the chart. Despite this safeguard, the patient still received an incorrect medication prior to the procedure. Fortunately, in this case, there was no lasting harm to the patient.
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Disclosing a medical error is never easy, but it can become especially complicated when you need to tell the patient that a previous provider was in the wrong. This delicate situation often requires communication with the other provider before you tell the patient anything.
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Educators often talk about "teachable moments," those times when the patient is ready to learn. This moment might be in a waiting area, exam room, or a hospital bed. To take advantage of these times, staff members in the Section of Patient Education at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, look for new ways to deliver patient education.
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This has been a grand month so far. I had the pleasure of speaking at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) meeting in Orlando in May and The Gulf States ASC Conference in Biloxi in June. I reacquainted with old friends and made new ones, and I gathered many months of ideas for my column.
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Patients gradually are becoming accustomed to being asked for payment upfront, according to Marcy Quattrochi, manager of financial counseling at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, IL.
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After tornados were reported in the area of Joplin, MO, in May, Jenny Morris, administrator of Stateline Surgery Center in Galena, KS, turned to the local television station.
