As Surgicalists, we feel the responsibility to ensure every patient receives the right care, at the right time, and at the right place. The simple act of putting the needs of patients and hospitals first impacts numerous outcomes; from operating room efficiency, to surgical complication rates, financial outcomes, and most importantly, patient care and satisfaction. Emergency medical services (EMS) providers prefer hospitals with The Surgicalist Group’s services for similar reasons, as well.
Emergency medical service providers deeply understand the capabilities of the hospitals and emergency departments (EDs) in their region. When surveyed, the opinion EMS providers have of a hospital drastically improves after the implementation of The Surgicalist Group. They know, based on our evidence-based model, patients will receive prompt evaluation by surgeons who are experts and solely focused on care of urgent and emergent patients. Not only is the patient care improved, but the time getting into surgery is typically much faster than hospitals relying on the on-call general surgeons in the community.
Aside from proximity, hospital and ED reputation ranks high on the list of criteria patients and families consider when they request to be taken to a certain medical center. Reputation is built through timely responsiveness, compassionate caregivers, excellent clinical outcomes, and word of mouth recommendations. Emergency responders also depend on similar criteria when they consider which hospitals to contact when transporting patients. For EMS, it is important to transport patients to hospitals they feel can provide the most appropriate care promptly, and expertly, given a patient’s condition. Their own reputation depends on it.
EMS Depend on Surgicalists: Survey and Results
We surveyed EMS providers affiliated with our hospital partners; the survey was blinded to ensure honest responses. We looked to measure if their hospital preference was influenced by the presence of The Surgicalist Model versus one with the traditional on-call community surgeon. The results revealed positive outcomes across six key areas of performance.
The questions and results were:
- Has the hospital’s decision to add a specific trauma surgical service, to care for emergency surgery and trauma patients improved your opinion of the hospital? (64% responded “yes”)
- Do you feel that the hospital is making an effort to improve patient care by staffing specialty-trained surgeons? (92% said “yes”)
- With the recent efforts and implementation of the Trauma/Emergency General Surgery Service, has this increased your likelihood of bringing NON-trauma patients to the hospital? (92% said “yes”)
- In general (not at the hospital specifically), does knowing that a hospital has 24/7 surgical service dedicated specifically to the care of emergency surgery and trauma patients effect your likelihood of transporting a patients to that facility? (96% said “yes”)
- In general (not specifically at the hospital), when transporting a patient, does your perception of that hospital’s level of competency determine if you go there or route to another facility? (96% said “yes”)
- In general (not specifically at the hospital), would your opinion of a hospital improve (more likely to transport patients there) knowing there was a dedicated surgical service there to care for those patients 24/7? (92% said “yes”)
As you can imagine, one simple change to a hospital’s surgical call strategy has the potential to elevate its reputation in the local market. This has the potential to give a distinct competitive advantage, increase referrals, optimize throughput, improve quality, satisfaction, and financial outcomes.
Contact us if you would like to discuss how partnering with The Surgicalist Group can support your needs. There has never been a better time to start improving your case capture, the efficiency of your surgical department, and the care for your patients.
by Casey Thomas, DO, FAOCS, FACS – Chief Medical Officer, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Surgeon
