Louise DeChesser, RN, CNOR, MS, administrator at West Hartford Surgery Center and director of clinical services for Healthcare Venture Professionals, which manages the facility for owner Hartford Hospital, attributes some of the facility’s success to its location in West Hartford’s Blue Black Square. West Hartford was recently named a top 10 American city to live in and it “looks like a movie set in a community based, very high-end, downtown environment,” she says.
Here are three best practices that have helped West Hartford thrive during challenging economic times.
1. Treat patients AND their families. When patients come to the surgery center they aren’t the only ones being treated. The patient is seen as a unit. Typically, “the patient comes with a family member or a friend. Waiting to hear information about your loved one can be interminable, sometimes worse than the patient’s experience, if the surgery outcome is sensitive,” says Ms. DeChesser. West Hartford keeps the families of their patients highly informed, letting them know if surgery is running late or if there are any other issues. Families are taken care of by the surgery center’s staff, which provides food, drinks and even warm blankets. “This accommodating philosophy is our turnkey and something that showcases us from the rest,” she says.
Ms. DeChesser’s staff takes the time to learn about their patients through the pre-op telephone interview. “We try to look at the whole patient, including their recovery experience after they leave us,” she says. “We have to assure ourselves that we send patients home who are informed and capable of recovering within the framework of their environment.”
2. Networking. West Hartford Surgery Center is still a relatively new facility, but people are talking about it. The consistently positive environment and the extremely accommodating services give patients a story to tell about their experience. “There was one patient whose procedure was cancelled due to a medical issue and she had been excited to stop and get a donut on her way home. She was unhappy about the cancellation, so while we were getting ready to discharge her, a staff member ran out and got her the donut. People can’t believe we would go to these extremes to make their experience a five-star,” says Ms. DeChesser.
Networking among retailers in the Blue Black Square community is another way Ms. DeChesser showcases the facility. “When people know who you are it gives them pre-confidence about the quality and safe care you will provide.”
3. Staff-centered universe. The staff at West Hartford Surgery Center is a seasoned and confident team. Most members have worked under hospital systems. “At our facility, the staff can recommend new processes that actually make a difference,” says Ms. DeChesser. “We do a lot of strategizing with staff and patients to see how we can make the place the best it can be.” Hartford Hospital has allowed Ms. DeChesser to be entrepreneurial in the daily running of the facility. This freedom allows her to create an optimal environment for the physicians, patients their families and the staff.
“Surgeons are very engaged when they are with us and happy, because we can turn rooms over efficiently. They have no distractions, as they would at the main campus with people calling them to the ER or for a consultation,” says Ms. DeChesser. “I work personally with the offices to promote excellent time management for the surgeons utilizing block booking and recommendations concerning the synthesis of office and surgery schedules.”
Read a Hartford Courant article on the three-year anniversary of West Hartford Surgery Center.
Learn more about West Hartford Surgery Center.
Learn more about Healthcare Venture Professionals.
