What’s the Atmosphere like in a Surgical Center?

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Surgical Centers are usually freestanding clinics or annexes of larger facilities like hospitals or major medical centers. Many of them are owned and operated by physicians or smaller co-ops. These centers are also normally quite efficiently operated and can be truly competitive with pricing and benefits to the patient.

Employees

Employees of most surgical centers are the happiest healthcare workers. Since these centers are usually only outpatient facilities, there are no “on-call” shifts to staff. There is great team attitude because the stress level is so much lower than trauma centers and larger hospitals. Due to small employee groups, team members must work well together to help turn over rooms, clean instruments, order supplies, and plan for upcoming surgeries. Most people who work in surgical centers love their jobs.

Physicians

Physicians like surgical centers for the smaller procedures because the scheduling is not as crowded as large hospitals. If the surgeon is an investing partner, he or she will be treated like royalty because he or she is bringing in the revenue. It is easy for the surgeon to request particular preferred suture, instruments, and other items that make surgery go smoothly and uneventful.

Physicians also like the fact that the employees are more laid back, so naturally, the physicians will be laid back.

Administration

Of course, behind every successful business is someone in an office counting all the beans. Administration loves overseeing a surgical center because there is a great opportunity to fill the schedule, Monday through Friday, and leave the weekends for golfing and other personal fun things. Surgical center administrators have an intimate working relationship with the doctors and employees, again, because it is usually an extremely tight knit group. Some administrators are really good about going to bat for bonuses and special acknowledgement for employees and it keeps moral high in every area.

Sharp administrators are also good about finding the patient a good price for anesthesia charges, supplies, and room charges. It is a competitive field and every opportunity is searched out to save money, both for the patient, and the center.

Registration

Registration people like working in surgery centers because they know the day is going to end at a decent hour. Once the last patient is checked in, moving onto plans for the next day gives that person time to make calls, file, and make everything neat for the next day. Usually, the desks are well lit, with nice work area and good equipment.

Surgical Staff

Surgical Centers are designed exclusively for short-stay surgery. A hospital must be staffed and equipped to treat all types of medical problems, providing a much broader range of services. Therefore, the equipment is streamlined and minimal. The operating room personnel are aware of physicians’ preferences and they don’t have to wade through cluttered equipment rooms and mountains of stuff. And, even though there may be overlap of duties, for the most part, people who work in surgery centers don’t mind cleaning the floor and autoclaving instruments because there is such a relaxed environment.

Patients

Especially pediatric patients can tell if there is fear or tension in the operating room setting. Since the atmosphere is so much more casual, patients love the privacy, the one-on-one care, and uncomplicated process of having surgery in a small, comfortable center.