FEATURE “This gives you more flexibility to
provide care to patients without break- ing the bank of your facility,” she says. “Your clinical staff members should be able to step in for almost any aspect of patient care, even if it is not their pri- mary focus.” Strassner says her ASC, as a free- standing facility, performs extensive cross-training. “Our technicians are cross-trained in various roles so when staffing situations arise any one of our staff can fill that vacancy. We also try to keep preoperative and postoperative nurses trained to the OR and vice versa, so if there is a call-out, we can easily move bodies around.”
Equipment
Directors of nursing can spend as much time working with equipment as they do with staff, Strassner says. “I make sure
all of our equipment receives its appro- priate preventive maintenance and ser- vice. On top of coordinating those efforts, I make sure biomed comes in and checks every piece of electrical equipment. When equipment breaks down, I make sure it is taken out of ser- vice and fixed correctly and fast.” Training staff to handle and use equipment properly is another impor- tant responsibility for Allison. “As an endoscopy center, we use scopes, so we are particularly cautious of poten- tial infection issues. We spend signifi- cant time training our technicians how to properly clean the scopes.” Strassner says she is often respon-
sible for making decisions concerning new equipment as well. “Last year, we added a femtosecond laser for cataract surgery,” she says. “I worked with our chief operations officer
to research the benefits of the technology and to determine if it would be econom- ically effective for the center. To exam- ine the clinical aspects of performing the procedure, I visited other ASCs and watched the procedure being performed. Then I used the informtion to develop our policies and procedures as well as coordinate staff and physician training.”
An Eye on the Financials “Clinical and financial now go hand in hand,” Roderiques says. “You cannot be one-sided.” Strassner adds, “As a director of nurs-
ing, you are the Velcro between the busi- ness office and clinical area. We work as a team to decide if certain procedures are right for the ASC. We are completely entwined and have to be if we want to remain efficient and effective.”
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