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up with ideas to strengthen productiv- ity. “I maintain an open-door policy for my staff. If they have a suggestion, they can bring it to me at any time.” One IU Health staff nurse recently took it upon herself to redesign the ASC’s medication logbook. “The log- book we were using required multiple signatures on the same page and was inefficient,” Fink says. “This nurse redesigned that paper to make it easier and faster to complete while still meet- ing requirements. Something seem- ingly quite small turned out to be a huge time-saver.”


McCue is hoping for similar results


Improving Productivity in ASCs Employee satisfaction is key BY ROBERT KURTZ


W


hen ASC staff are produc- tive, the positive effects can be


wide-reaching: more efficient care that results in patients to spending less time in the ASC; more satisfied physicians who appreciate efforts to help them provide high-quality care at a low cost; and more engaged staff as a result of seeing how their work directly affects the ASC’s performance.


The list can go on, says Caryn Fink,


RN, CASC, ASC clinical director for Indiana University (IU) Health in India- napolis, Indiana. “Everyone’s time is so incredibly valuable. When you improve staff productivity, you make the most of this time. That can play a significant role in an ASC’s ability to succeed.” At UroPartners Surgery Center in Des Plaines, Illinois, the driver of staff productivity is a mindset, says Cathy McCue, RN, administrator. “While everyone has their specific job respon- sibilities, no one is limited to these responsibilities. If a team member needs assistance, everyone is ready to step up.” This all-hands-on-deck approach means staff are rarely sitting around struggling to figure out some- thing to do.


28 ASC FOCUS APRIL 2020 | ascfocus.org


When staff start to feel burned out, their work will inevitably suffer. Make sure your staff use their vacation time. Schedule time for events that reward staff for their hard work and a job well done.”


—Cathy McCue, RN UroPartners Surgery Center


While staff should look for ways to help one another, they should not spend significant time trying to find work to tackle, says Fink, who also serves as president of the Indiana Federation of Ambulatory Surgical Centers. “A sure- fire way to kill productivity is to have staff waiting for patients. You may be able to find some work for these staff while they wait, but that can dry up quickly.” Flexible staffing can help avoid staff inactivity. When volume changes, your staffing model should align with the surgical schedule. On a more micro level, Fink says staff at her ASC are challenged to come


when her ASC begins using an online preoperative questionnaire in the near future. “For patients who feel comfort- able filling this out, we expect we will capture about 30 percent of the infor- mation we would normally collect on the phone. That will decrease the time our preoperative testing nurse will need to spend on those calls and free her up to tackle other tasks.” An area Fink says that is often ripe


for improvements that can strengthen productivity is supply management. Consider how much time your staff spends looking for supplies and gath- ering them for cases. “We realized our surgeons used the same supplies for each case, so we invested in cus- tom surgical packs. Rather than hav- ing staff picking these supplies, all we need to do now is open the pack and the surgical team has everything they need. As a bonus, these packs were also more cost-effective.” Some of the best ways to improve


productivity might require staff not to work at all, McCue says. “Pushing your staff to just ‘go go go’ can have a negative effect on productivity. When staff start to feel burned out, their work will inevitably suffer. Make sure your staff use their vacation time. Schedule time for events that reward staff for their hard work and a job well done. Employee satisfaction and retention translates into productivity.”


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