WARM WELCOME Most surgeons are interested in breaking open supply packs, getting their hands on the equipment they'll be using, meeting your team and seeing where they'll be operating.

It wasn't uncommon for us to meet a new surgeon literally minutes before his first case at our facility was to begin. Not the best scenario for successful clinical outcomes or to make new docs feel like welcome members of your team. Now we set up times for our new surgeons to visit the surgical department, meet the surgical team and take tours of the facility well in advance of the mornings when they'll scrub in for real.

Familiar faces
Set aside 2 to 3 hours for the visits, and try to schedule them a month before the surgeon will start operating. Show him the ORs he'll be working in and the locations of the scrub sinks to give him an overview of the surgery area. Pointing out seemingly simple things — the locker room, his assigned locker, where to pick up scrubs — makes a huge difference in making him feel welcome and letting him hit the ground running.

Equipment planning
Meeting with surgeons well in advance of their first procedures ensures their equipment needs are ironed out and arranged for ahead of time, so staff aren't left scrambling on the day of surgery to compile needed instrument sets and working without preference cards. Break open instrument and supply packs so surgeons see exactly what they'll have to work with. Review their preference cards with them to ensure they're complete and accurate. Another reason to schedule visits 2 to 4 weeks before surgeons' first cases is you'll need that lead time to get requested equipment or instruments in house, through purchasing or loaner trays.

Setting expectations
When you're notified of a new surgeon bringing his cases to your center, send him a packet of information about your facility and staff, including a welcome letter (see sample); phone numbers of important contacts in the surgery department; a list of the surgical or specialty managers; a map of the facility's campus; an outline of how patients flow through the facility; how and when to enter orders; when H&Ps need to be completed; where to send patients for pre-op testing; and brief descriptions of your patient-care expectations in pre-op, the OR and PACU.

Surgeon and staff satisfaction
After on-site tours, stay in close contact with surgeons to ensure everything is ready for their first cases. The open communication you'll establish fosters closer relationships from the very beginning, and surgeons will get to know you and your team as people instead of simply eyes peering over masks. You'll also find surgeons let down their guards and are more willing to share information. Staff, too, benefit from meeting docs before they enter the OR — they're much more relaxed and more excited to work with and get to know them — and truly appreciate that first contact. My service specialists have told me it's nice to meet surgeons weeks before they operate for the first time in order to become familiar with their needs, set up their ORs correctly and form bases for all-important professional relationships. Surgeons have told me they appreciate seeing the facility beforehand instead of coming in cold with little to no knowledge of how your staff works.

Welcome to the team, doc
Not every surgeon will take advantage of your offer to come in before his first case. Some are legitimately too busy; others might not appreciate the importance of becoming familiar with your facility and staff. If a visit proves impossible to schedule, at least reach out to the surgeon to inquire about his instrument needs and develop his preference card. Regardless of the initial interest, get the orientation program up and running because you'll see interest grow as word spreads about its benefits.