Cover Story

Accreditation is one of the most important responsibilities of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), helping ensure the highest levels of healthcare quality and patient safety. There are three main independent accrediting bodies: The Joint Commission, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and QUAD A (formerly known as the AAAASF).

Technology and safety go hand-in-hand in today’s operating rooms and ambulatory surgery centers. A wide range of technological advances are making surgery safer for patients and practitioners than at any time since the advent of modern surgery.

The healthcare industry is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses in the world. In fact, if healthcare were a nation, it would rank fifth globally in CO2 emissions. In the U.S., healthcare activities produce up to 10% of all greenhouse gasses.

More and more patients today are choosing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) over traditional hospitals for their surgical procedures. ASC surgical volume is expected to increase by 21% over the next decade to reach 44 million procedures a year by 2034.

While we can’t promise anyone that you’ll ever be “in charge of things” in your work environment, we did think it would be fun to ask perioperative professionals a similar question: If you could wave a magic wand and create the perfect operating room environment, what are some of the things that would be at the top of your wish list?

The volume of outpatient procedures performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) has risen drastically in recent years. Over the past three decades, the number of outpatient surgeries performed in ASCs has tripled to more than 54 million each year – nearly equaling the number of surgeries performed in traditional hospital settings.