Managing ASC Risk Using Nursing Staff: Q&A With Premier Orthopedic Surgery Center's Natalie Soule

The success of an ambulatory surgery center, and indeed any healthcare organization, often depends on managing risk effectively, while continually improving performance. At Becker's ASC 21st Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, a panel of administrators will discuss the importance of risk managers in an ASC and how nurses can act as risk managers.

Here, one of the panelists — Natalie Soule, RN, CASC, administrator at Premier
Orthopedic Surgery Center in Nashville, Tenn. — discusses the benefits of nurses acting as risk managers at surgery centers and what she hopes attendees will glean from the panel discussion. The panel also includes Judy Shapazian, RN, administrator and CEO of San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Surgery Center and Gary Richberg, RN, ALNC, administrator at
Pacific Rim Outpatient Surgery Center in Bellingham, Wash.

Question : What are some ways in which nurses can act as risk managers?

Natalie Soule: Depending on the role in the facility, all nurses can act as risk managers. There are constantly things to monitor such as orders being written correctly, contributing ideas to studies for performance improvement projects, hand hygiene, peer review, just to name a few. Nurses are the front line for the risk manager.

Q: What are some benefits of nurses performing the additional role of risk managers?

NS: Nurses are familiar with all aspects of what goes on in the ASC. They are accustomed to viewing physician orders, looking at patient history and physicals, just to name a few things.

Q: What will be the focus of the session and what are you hoping attendees will get out of it?

NS: Since this is a panel and not a presentation, I believe the focus will depend partly on the questions asked by the audience. Typically I have found from other conferences I have attended that the subject of risk manager is always a hot topic. From my personal contribution to the panel, I would like to focus on performance improvement studies and to provide tips on how to conduct and write them.

Being the risk manager covers a broad area in the ASC from conducting peer reviews, occurrence reports, performance improvement studies, performance improvement meetings and so many other things. I would hope attendees could leave with information that would help make the job a little easier to navigate.

More Articles on ASCs:

Dr. Daniel Eglinton Opens Asheville Biologics and Orthopedics
Who's Buying? 5 Statistics on ASC Acquisitions in 2010 vs. 2013
7 Things for ASC Leaders to Know for Thursday

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