Essay Example on Maximizing Outcomes Through Ambulatory Service Centers: A Critical Analysis

Introduction

The essence of ambulatory service centers is to allow surgeons to efficiently perform surgeries in spacious and conducive environments than what is offered in operating rooms at hospitals. The United States government is rapidly investing in ASCs to provide better care for patients needing surgeries and more experience to the surgeons (Stagg et al., 2018). The decision to create an ASC is critical, depending on the local circumstances and the costs involved. Thus, ASC is more in the urban U.S cities than in rural areas. The costs involved are more considered than the needs of the people. Hence, having an ASC in the rural area is more expensive than the urban area since operational costs can be compensated by the high service charges that urban people are ready to pay for, unlike in the rural areas (Stagg et al., 2018). Thus, this paper examines the community needs for ASCs and what urban-based Nanticoke, Baptist Health, and rural-based Northwoods have to offer to their communities.

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ASC Overview

Nanticoke Surgical Center, LLC.

The facility is based in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and operates to offer high quality and safe surgical care to patients (Gigfford, 2016). The facility was created by a group of clinicians who wanted to provide the best surgical experiences to patients and their families. The facility is well equipped with the latest surgical tools in both of its two large operating rooms. There is also a significant procedure room were highly experienced surgical staff share ideas and familiarized themselves with the available technologically advanced tools. With a spanning size of over 6200 square feet, the facility provides ample relaxing space for the patients and loved ones before, during, and after the surgery (Gifford, 2016). The number of staff ensures that more surgeons are attending to a single patient for standardized care.

Baptist Health Centre

The facility is a state of the art surgical hospital with more than five surgery centers. Some of these centers include Baptist Eye Center, Baptist Health Surgery Center ant North Point, Bethesda West, South Palm, Kendall, and Medical Arts Surgery Center at South Miami (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). The facility is a non-profit organization that offers outpatient services to patients and residents of South Florida.

Northwoods Surgery Center

The facility is located on Bailey's Lake in Minnesota, Virginia. The physicians in Northwoods strive to achieve the facility's vision that is to offer exceptional outpatient surgical services in a calm and caring manner. The patients and their families are provided with high-quality surgical services that are affordable and compassionate. The hospital is affiliated to Fairview Range Medical Center and Dr. Bridget Sundell of Virginia as a joint venture (Benike et al., 2012). Patients in Virginia enjoy same-day surgery care at the facility that is close to their homes.

Services Rendered

Northwoods Surgery Center provides same-day surgery care for residents of Virginia. Some of its specialized services include orthopedics, ophthalmology, podiatry for the ear, throat, and nose, endoscopy, and general surgery (Benike et al., 2012). Since it is located in the rural area and its size is not large enough, the services are for same-day so that there is enough room for other visiting patients. As an ambulatory center, it provides better surgery experience as compared to hospital-based operating rooms.

Conversely, Nanticoke is also an outpatient surgery center that offers orthopedic services, pain management, ENT (ear, nose, and throat), ophthalmology, podiatry, and general surgeries. Emergency calls for patients are done via 911 (Gifford, 2016). Patients also receive additional advantages, including ample relation space for themselves and their loved ones. The patients can be in the facility before, during, and after the surgery, which also includes the presence of their families. The facility is more significant than Northwoods, hence offering a larger patient capacity.

Baptist Health Center offers a variety of surgical services; it is six centers. Such services include endoscopy, general surgery, mammography, diagnostic imaging, and any other patient care services (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). Just like Nanticoke, it is an urban-based facility. The only difference is that it is non-profit, while Nanticoke is profit-oriented. Baptist Health Center focuses on providing surgery services, among other patient care needs, at an affordable rate. It is mainly managed and funded by the Florida government to provide the best health experiences for citizens of South Florida.

Community Needs Carol

Nanticoke is well designed to provide the best care for the patients and their families. The facility is about 6200 square feet with a relaxation area for both patient and family before, during, and after the surgery (Gifford, 2016). The ASC also has two large rooms for an operation that are equipped with the best advanced equipment for the patients. The ratio of surgical professionals to a single patient is thrilling to ensure each patient receives the best care while in the hands of competent staff.

Similarly, the facilities in any of the Baptist surgery centers are well advanced to offer quality care for patients. It is a state of the art facility that cares and loves patients. Nonetheless, in the case of Northwood, the facility is not as large as the above urban facilities. The hospital offers surgical services of high quality and in calm and compassionate environments (Benike et al., 2012). The services are also very affordable to residents of Virginia.

Conversely, patients visiting Nanticoke have to part with quite a fortune while those at Baptist receive affordable quality services since it is a non-profit entity (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). Notably, residents in the village need more ambulatory care as compared to those in urban areas. Thus, creating more facilities in rural areas could be a futuristic idea to help communities like those around Bailey Lake in Virginia.

Community Size Carol

Nanticoke ASC covers over 6200 square feet (Gifford, 2016). It is a state of the art facility that has a high ratio of staff to each patient. Conversely, Baptist Health has eight acute care centers that have over 2700 licenses based on patients (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). Thus, the facility offers a better surgical experience for a large number of patients on a personal level. It also has 50 outpatient centers that are in major cities like Coral Springs, Pembroke Spines, Weston, Davie, and Sunrise (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). With over 23,000 employees and 4,000 physicians, Baptist has a national and international reputation that makes it a world-class facility (Ogunmoroti et al., 2018). Contrarily, Northwoods Hospital in Virginia, only has five employees (Benike et al., 2012). The implication is that the ratio of professional surgeons to the high number of resident patients is low. Thus, the facility only offers same-day surgical services and has no extra relation space like urban-based Baptist Health and Nanticoke.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the essence of this paper was to evaluate the ASC services rendered to communities in the United States. It came out that rural-based facilities like Northwoods, which is based in Virginia, Minnesota, is of small size and only has five employees. People in rural areas need more of ASC centers since they are few while patients keep increasing. Contrarily, urban-based facilities like Nanticoke and Baptist Health are state of the art facilities with a vast size and high surgeon to patient ratio. The needs are minimal for patients since the ASCs in cities are numerous. For instance, Baptist Health has eight surgery centers, 50 acute care centers, 4,000 physicians, and over 27,000 employees, making it a world-class hospital. Comparatively, Nanticoke only has one center that is built on 6200 square feet to accommodate as many patients as possible in the two large operating rooms that have modern equipment.

References

Benike, L., Cognetta-Rieke, C., Dahlby, M., & Disch, J. (2012). Quality and safety in the home and ambulatory settings. Nursing Clinics, 47(3), 323-331. https://www.nursing.theclinics.com/article/S0029-6465(12)00060-6/abstract

Gifford, K. (2016). The impact of a new Emergency Department on healthcare utilization by Delaware Medicaid clients: an application of the travel cost method (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware). http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/20453

Ogunmoroti, O., Utuama, O. A., Salami, J. A., Valero-Elizondo, J., Spatz, E. S., Rouseff, M., ... & Feldman, T. (2018). Association between self-rated health and ideal cardiovascular health: The Baptist Health South Florida Employee Study. Journal of Public Health, 40(4), e456-e463. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/clc.22757

Stagg, B. C., Talwar, N., Mattox, C., Lee, P. P., & Stein, J. D. (2018). Trends in the use of ambulatory surgery centers for cataract surgery in the United States, 2001-2014. JAMA ophthalmology, 136(1), 53-60. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/2664081