|  |  The Knox Community Hospital Perioperative Services provides care for inpatients (those who already are in the hospital or those who are admitted the same day as their surgery and who will stay in the hospital) and outpatients (ambulatory surgery patients). The vast majority of preoperative tests will be performed on an outpatient basis prior to admission. Typically, outpatient procedures are performed with local anesthesia. However, some procedures may be performed with general anesthesia. Procedures performed under local anesthesia are minor and patients are discharged after a brief observation period. Ambulatory surgery patients receiving general or regional anesthesia are recovered in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit, then transferred to the Ambulatory Surgery Unit, and discharged the same day.
The Knox Community Hospital Perioperative Services is comprised of five departments which enables the surgical patient a comprehensive clinical experience. The departments include: Pre-Surgical Screening, Ambulatory Surgery Unit, Surgery Department, Post Anesthesia Care Unit and Central Sterile.
Pre-Surgical Screening
The Pre-Surgical Screening unit is a team of registered nurses and patient care assistants that provide competent, compassionate and timely care to achieve optimal patient outcomes. Services provided include but are not limited to: Pre-surgical screening of patients in preparation for surgical or an endoscopy procedure and education of patients and family. Pre-Surgical Screening is staffed Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) from 7:00am to 5:30pm.
Ambulatory Surgery
The Ambulatory Surgery Unit is a team of registered nurses and a unit secretary that provide care for patients and their families before and after outpatient procedures. They offer optimal assessment capabilities and provide excellent customer service. The nurses perform follow up calls to patients after the completion of a surgical or endoscopy procedure to identify any additional patient concerns. Their hours of operation are from 7:00am to 5:30pm.
Surgery Department
The Surgery Department is a team of registered nurses, surgical technologists, registered nurse first assistants, certified surgical technologists, first assistants, licensed practical nurse, certified operating room technologists, patient care assistants and surgery scheduler that provide competent, compassionate and timely care for patients undergoing a surgical intervention to promote optimal patient outcomes. The Surgery Department provides for patients from pediatric to geriatric in age. Services include, but are not limited to: general surgery, orthopedics, gynecology, urology, ENT/Oral, podiatry, ophthalmology, endoscopy. Hours of operation are 7:00am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday. Emergent or urgent surgical care is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)
The Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) is a team of registered nurses that provide comprehensive, compassionate, timely care for patients under going surgical intervention to achieve optimal patient outcomes. Patients are admitted directly to the PACU upon completion of surgery. They are connected to monitoring equipment designed to assist the critical care trained nurses in returning patients to their pre-surgery level of functioning. The nursing staff incorporates a high level of physical assessment with those skills necessary to achieve quality outcomes for each patient. Areas of concentration in PACU include the restoration of effective breathing patterns, pain control, stabilizing vital signs and formulation of a post-operative plan of care. PACU hours of operation are 7:00am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Emergent or urgent PACU care is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Central Sterilization
The Central Sterilization Unit is comprised of a team of central sterile technicians, surgical technologists and trained staff that provides timely and accurate instrument sterilization services to promote optimal patient outcomes. Services provided but are not limited to: receiving, sorting, inventory, decontaminating, cleaning, examining and sterilizing instrumentation and other operative/invasive procedure items, assure that standards of practice are used as outlined by The International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management, performing daily biological monitoring tests on all sterilizer equipment, ensuring items are dated, stored and rotated, and inspecting instrumentation and initiating repair/replacement. Staff are scheduled on staggered shifts to provide 24 hours a day and on call coverage. |