Editor’s Page: Searching for Success Stories

As soon as the speaker thanks attendees and steps offstage to conference-appropriate applause (a sound a few decibels above a golf clap), I rush toward the front of a packed hotel ballroom. I’m on a mission to find the woman who, during the Q&A portion of a presentation on Managing the Business of an ASC, shared her facility’s cost-saving approach to surgical tray customization — and I need to hear more.

I’m at the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Florida. Well, I guess technically I’m in Florida, but really I’m sequestered in a Gaylord hotel — a destination unto itself. Like a Vegas casino, these strategically located hotels seem intentionally designed to make guests lose all sense of time and place. After a few hours inside the maze-like dome of the massive resort and convention center, I could’ve been in Florida or in Finland, and it wouldn’t have made any difference to me.

The entire time I found myself at the Gaylord, I made it a priority to meet as many surgery center leaders as I could. I collected business cards, exchanged cell numbers and listened carefully for any potential success stories I could pass along to you.

I view every in-person conference as an opportunity to add to our stable of expert sources and glean relevant content for the magazine, but ASCA’s ability to bring industry leaders together is unmatched. It’s a can’t-miss event for a reason.

But when it comes to finding success stories and applicable case studies, I firmly believe the best content comes directly from you, our readers. You proudly reach out hoping to share what your teams are doing well in a variety of ways — emails, phone calls and even the occasional old-school letter. The most popular vehicle for sharing, however, has always been our call for OR Excellence Award submissions. For the past 15 years, you’ve never failed to impressive our editors with your problem-solving prowess and your ingenuity. The call for 16th OR Excellence Award submissions is now in full swing, and we’re once again recognizing standout facilities in the following eight categories:

• Patient Safety and Quality (formerly Patient Safety)
• Patient Satisfaction and Experience (formerly Patient Satisfaction)
• Infection Prevention and Control  
• Employee Engagement and Safety (formerly Employee Safety)
• Pain Management 
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
• Financial Management 
• Environmental Sustainability (formerly Environmental Stewardship) 

This year, you will have multiple options for nominating your facility. As we point out on Page 18, you can email me directly at [email protected]; you can also reach out to other members of our editorial team, Adam Taylor ([email protected]) and Joe Paone ([email protected]); or you can respond to the email survey we will be sending multiple times over the next few months. If you’re on the fence about submitting, we urge you to just do it. It doesn’t cost anything, and if your facility is selected, the recognition can do wonders for your hardworking staff’s morale.

If you’re wondering what happened with the conference attendee from the beginning of this column, there’s a happy ending. We eventually connected and turned her conference comment into an Ideas That Work item that appears on Page 6 of this very issue. Check it out — maybe it’ll inspire you to share what your own facility is doing! OSM