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NWOS Surgery Center Highly Successful
Northwest Orthopedic Specialists (NWOS) opened its new Surgery Center in April of this year and has performed an increasing number of procedures each month. As of December, there have been more than 550 procedures performed. The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) recently awarded the NWOS Surgery Center its highest level of accreditation for both the acknowledgement of excellence and a maximum three-year certification.
Nancy Yohe, R.N., clinical director, said the highly dedicated staff and their attention to detail were major contributors to being awarded the full accreditation for the new facility.
In addition, the Surgery Center’s staff are dedicated to specific orthopedic disciplines. This allows a vast array of specialized services and creates a more focused environment.
Dr. VanderWilde, Chairman of the ASC Board of Directors, explains that employees who perform orthopedic-specific procedures become very attuned to the surgeon’s needs in the operating room and this provides a better environment along with much greater efficiency. The 19 surgeons utilizing the Surgery Center routinely comment about their ability to perform more procedures than in other outpatient settings.
Dr. Olson, NWOS president, believes one of the major success factors for the Surgery Center from the surgeon’s perspective has been the consistent quality and ever expanding breadth of anesthesia services provided. He notes that the use of regional pain blocks on the majority of major shoulder, knee and foot cases allows NWOS surgeons to discharge their patients without an overnight stay for pain control.
“The patients are going home with much less pain than they would without these blocks,” said Dr. Jay Reynolds, the Surgery Center’s medical director and staff anesthesiologist.
Dr. Reynolds notes that these blocks are not widely used in Spokane in other similar settings, which makes the NWOS quality of patient care even more unique. The Surgery Center is currently conducting a quality improvement study comparing the pain levels of the few patients that do not receive the blocks with those that do. The outcome of this study will be used within the group to influence physician’s ordering of these blocks.
Patients are enjoying their encounters at the Surgery Center as well. Patient comments about the facility have matched the surgeons’ level of excitement. Some of the comments extracted from just a handful of recent patient satisfaction surveys include:
- "The best surgery experience I've ever had."
- "I have had multiple surgeries but the care I received the day of my surgery was amazing."
- "This is a very impressive center- particularly the staff."
- "Excellent communication and so comfortable and fun! Yeah fun!"
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