Same-day surgery managed care: monitoring patient and system variances.
The Same-Day Surgery (SDS) nursing staff at a Midwestern medical center tracked the causative factors for prolonged stays (> 2 hours) in SDS. A review of retrospective data identified that postoperative patient stays averaged between 2 and 3 hours. The top three variances for prolonged stays in SDS were pain, nausea and transportation home. Based on this data, several practice changes that were incorporated to address these variances are reported in this article.
Lewis
C K
CK
St Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Wahl
J
J
Yust
K
K
Kaplan
S
S
D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000451:nursing / Q000592:standards*; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009325:Nausea / Q000451:nursing; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000451:nursing; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000451:nursing; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D014922:Wisconsin