NorthStar Surgical Center in Lubbock, Texas, is a clinical training site for two nursing schools and a surgical technician program at a community college. John Brock, the administrator, and Vicki Ball, director of nursing at the ambulatory surgery center, share four advantages to hosting students in an ASC.
1. Keeps staff on their toes. When staff members have to explain what they are doing, it makes them more self-aware and helps improve their skills. But staff should not be sidetracked by teaching. "The schools send us the best of the best so there is less hand-holding than with marginal students," Ms. Ball says. The nursing students have a chance to observe or help start IVs.
2. Promotes ASC's advantages. The ASC is an easier place to train than a hospital because it is smaller and more efficient. "It lets the students see a different type of work environment," Ms. Ball says. Student nurses are in the ASC 2-3 days a week. "We don't have the time to teach on a day-to-day basis," she says. There are no more than five students in the center at any given time, compared with 50 full- and part-time employees.
3. Good community relations. Opening the center's doors to students builds goodwill with schools and students. "We don't get paid for this," Mr. Brock says. "We see it as an obligation to the community." Students may be invited to gown up and come into the OR to observe, with the surgeon's permission. He may also ask them to leave.
4. Recruitment tool. Interacting with students could be a way to identify and recruit new employees, but Northstar does not have this need. "We have no trouble filling positions," Mr. Brock says. "We are not doing this as a recruitment tool."
Opened about 10 years ago, Northstar has six ORs, one pain room and two GI rooms. It has 35 physician-partners, 100 physicians with privileges and a volume of 9,000 cases a year.
Learn more about NorthStar Surgical Center.