In Review
OPERATING SUITE: Michael Maloney, an associate professor of orthopaedics and the medical director of the University鈥檚 new ambulatory surgery center, tours one of the new facility鈥檚 10 operating suites. (Photo: Richard Baker)For a lot of patients, surgery isn鈥檛 what it used to be.
Thanks to emerging, minimally invasive technologies, improved anesthesia techniques, and other innovations, many procedures that once required hospital stays are regularly done as outpatient surgeries. In 1980 about 10 percent of Strong Memorial Hospital鈥檚 surgeries were classified as outpatient, or ambulatory, procedures. By 2005, the category had grown to about 50 percent, making ambulatory procedures the Medical Center鈥檚 fastest growing clinical activity.
At the same time, growth in specialty care has placed more pressure on the hospital鈥檚 existing operating suites for urgent inpatient procedures. As demand for the 33 operating rooms increased, doctors sometimes had to wait to perform ambulatory surgeries or move the procedures to outpatient centers.
鈥淐ases were routinely scheduled throughout the day and into the evening, often at times that were inconvenient for patients,鈥� says Mark Taubman, the Medical Center鈥檚 acting CEO. 鈥淧lus, the backlog of cases made it difficult to upgrade, renovate, or expand the existing operating suites.鈥�
A new ambulatory surgery center鈥攗pstate New York鈥檚 largest鈥攊s expected to alleviate those pressures. Opened in July, the Medical Center鈥檚 new Surgery Center offers 10 operating suites and three procedure rooms equipped with advanced technology, and facilities designed to provide comfort and privacy to patients and their families.
The 80,000-square-foot facility, located in the Rochester suburb of Brighton, is also home to the Pain Treatment Center, which opened in August, and the Division of Colorectal Surgery, which opened in September. The Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy Center is slated to open there in January 2010.
鈥淲ith demands on the hospital鈥檚 operating rooms and growth in ambulatory cases, it was clear that we needed to quickly address the issue with a patient focused solution, which meant getting patients in for their procedure on schedule, and home鈥攚here they want to be鈥攁s quickly as possible,鈥� says Michael Maloney, an associate professor of orthopaedics and medical director of the new center.
Those overseeing the new facility anticipate 8,500 procedures will be completed the first year, and predict that by its third year, the center could reach 18,000聽annually.