Medical Construction & Design

NOV-DEC 2014

Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.

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42 Medical Construction & Design | November/December 2014 www.mcdmag.com BY KATIA LU N ot one of us undergoes a surgical procedure with the hope of walking out the door with an infec- tion along with the medical bill. Unfortunately, incidents of infections from healthcare facilities do occur, and oppor- tunities for increased inci- dence are growing with the surge of ambulatory surgical centers, or ASCs, throughout the United States. Oftentimes, ASCs are multidisci- plinary, focusing on higher effi ciency of care through fl exible use of space and resources. As growth continues to rise, situations like Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome, which spiked within the last decade, may occur more often as the complexity and breadth of surgical services offered is on the increase. However, signifi cant measures to reduce risks, lower costs and improve quality of care can be realized with the adoption of "process-driven" design and planning, regardless of a project's size and budget. Recently, Array Architects worked with a healthcare provider to update an established ASC that was in need of improving effi ciency and outcomes. This particular ASC is part of an outpa- tient medical center with a host of spe- cialty services, and has served a group of multi-disciplinary clinical and facility staff for over 30 years. The group was eager to share its knowledge and wish list, and more than ready to embrace the latest industry guidance and best practices. With an addition of a procedure room dedicated to ophthalmology, it is not surprising that one of the top design priorities was to modify the sterile processing department to include safe processing of eye instru- ments. Ideally, intraocular instruments would be cleaned separately from nonophthalmologic surgical instru- ments, as recommended by The American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to reduce risks of TASS outbreaks similar to those in 2005-06. All about the FLOW IMPROVEMENTS FOR AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER STERILE PROCESSING DEPARTMENTS FOCUS: OUTPATIENT CARE Sterile processing department workfl ow Sterile processing future state diagram

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