CRESTVIEW — In the shadow of the medical center familiarly known as “the Four-Story” lies what North Okaloosa Medical Center physician liaison Alicia Booker calls the community’s “best-kept secret.”
NOMC’s Surgery Center — an ambulatory surgery center — is an alternative to having procedures in the north county’s hospital, Booker said.
“I think a lot of times the community is not aware we have surgeries there as well as at the main hospital,” she said.
Watch a video tour of North Okaloosa Medical Center's Surgery Center>>
Because medical technology has advanced rapidly, many procedures that just a few years ago required an overnight hospital stay are now done on an outpatient basis, she said.
“That’s how the majority of surgeries are done these days,” Director of Surgical Services Stephanie Martin said.
GENERAL SURGERIES
The center’s four surgical suites share staffers with the main hospital’s operating room to perform general surgeries, such as gynecological procedures, orthopedics, knee and shoulder scopes, and eyes, nose and throat surgeries.
Treatment rooms accommodate routine procedures such as colonoscopies and similar probes.
Martin said because the Surgery Center is designed for one purpose, “the process is more streamlined and convenient,” and that, Booker said, helps make procedures less expensive for patients.
Since emergency operations are only done at the main hospital, a scheduled procedure at the Surgery Center is unlikely to be cancelled for an emergency case, Booker said.
NOT FOR EVERYONE
The facility isn’t suitable for every patient, Surgery Center clinical coordinator Corry Wellman said.
“If you are a higher-risk patient, you may have to have your procedure at the hospital,” she said. “We don’t do patients that are really ill. We want you to be able to walk in and walk out.”
The decision is generally up to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, she said.
For the surgeon, an outpatient surgery center, like North Okaloosa Medical Center’s, “is often more convenient, more efficient, and customizable to their needs,” Booker said.
And for the patient, “they are able to provide lower-priced procedures because they have a lower cost structure than a traditional hospital setting, along with a ‘focused factory’ approach which creates efficiencies,” she said.
“It’s an alternative for outpatient surgery,” Booker said. “We hope it becomes a less-kept secret.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's Surgery Center offers outpatient procedures — but not for everyone (VIDEO)
