The following is a statement from the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia in response to recent news coverage on the safety of outpatient surgery.
Over 70 percent of surgeries performed in the United States occur in outpatient facilities that include hospital outpatient departments, freestanding ambulatory surgery centers and office-based surgical facilities. Patient safety and measurement of clinical outcomes are continuously monitored, and have made continuous quality improvement protocols meaningful in maintaining outcomes that meet or exceed clinical outcomes benchmarks in such facilities.
The Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia is the premier association of physician anesthesiologists and allied health anesthesia providers, many of whom provide care in freestanding ASCs. The majority of ASCs are inspected and certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or its delegated deemed-status organizations. In addition, accreditation bodies such as the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, the Joint Commission and the American Association for the Accreditation in Ambulatory Surgery Facilities inspect and accredit ASCs. Promotion and maintenance of patient safety in ambulatory surgery is paramount in the mission, vision and goals of entities providing care, certifying, accrediting, and inspecting ambulatory facilities.
Facilities maintain records of quality measures and adverse events which are required to be reported to governmental agencies in different ways depending on the state where the facilities are located. Undesirable adverse events have been and will continue to be targeted for reduction in order to ensure maximum patient safety in outpatient facilities. ASCs have emergency equipment similar to any hospital and the staff are trained to manage emergencies and/or transfer patients to higher levels of care when necessary. Despite best efforts some very rare and unforeseen complications can occur, such as those recently published in the media. However, each time an event occurs the ambulatory anesthesia and surgery communities spare no effort in studying the event and identifying practices that can help prevent similar events in the future to make ambulatory surgery even safer.
SAMBA will continue to provide education and guidance to inform clinical providers, governmental agencies and patients regarding evidence-based clinical pathways to improve outcomes in outpatient facilities, and will continue to support all measures that increase patient safety in any setting.