Published on March 21, 2011

Spivey Station Surgery Center sets standard for efficiency

Going green is more than buying energy efficient appliances, using water filters as opposed to water bottles and reusing batteries from single-use equipment to operate children's toys in the waiting room...all of which Spivey Station Surgery Center already does. It is about actively evaulating standard practices for efficiency and minimizing environmental impact. Health care facilities produce the most waste (second only to the food industry, according to Discovery News). Going green in the health care industry not only has becom a trend, but a matter of corporate and social responsibility.

Since it opened in 2009, the Spivey Station Surgery Center located in Jonesboro, Ga. has continually set the standard for efficiency through the ease of technological advances, resulting in drastically reduced paper usage, limited energy consumption and more recycling opportunities. The center's first initiative - becoming a paperless environment - has allowed the facility to operate with a 50 percent increase in efficiency, cutting down patient registration and wait times.

"Paperless charting has really streamlined the check-in process and sped up the day-to-day operations here," Dianne Barrow RN, BSN and administrator of Spivey Station Surgery Center said. "Less time is spent filling out paperwork and a nurse no longer has to check with other staff members to see if the next patient has arrived - all that information can be found on a computer without having to leave the operating room."

Barrow estimates using the paperless charting system saves 25-30 pieces of paper from being used per patient. With over 300 cases per month coming through Spivey Station Surgery Center, the numbers quickly add up. In cases where using paper is unavoidable, the completed paperwork is scanned into the computer system, then shredded and recycled using Shred-It, an information destruction service that insures confidential paperwork doesn't get out to the public.

Like most other health care facilities, the other big issue for Spivey Station Surgery Center is electricity. In order to curb usage and lessen the facility's environmental impact, all lights in the center run on timers and the heating and air conditioning units (except those in the operating rooms) turn off at 5 p.m. They then automatically turn on again one hours before the Spivey Station Surgery Center staff is scheduled to arrive the next morning.

In effort to take their enviornmental intiatives on step further, Spivey Station Surgery Center began using reprocessed equipment last year, saving thousands of medical instruments from the landfills.

"Our equipment is sent to an FDA approved reprocessing plant where it is sterilized, sharpened and inspected once more before being sent back to us," Barrow said. "This practice has gone over well with our partnering physicians. They are pleasantly surprised when they come in and find we are one step ahead of the game, looking for opportunities to reduce our waste."

Barrow adds that these initiatives and efficiencies, coupled with the convenience in location and general atmosphere of the modern facility, complete the ultimate patient experience at Spivey Station Surgery Center. With no emergency cases to interrupt the schedule, the average patient is in and out of the center within a few hours and there is a quick turnaround time of 5-10 minutes between procedures. Immediately following the procedure, patients even have the opportunity to get most medications on-site without going to a pharmacy.

Barrow looks for Spivey Station Surgery Center staff to focus its efforts on "greening" the operating rooms in the next year. Her goal is to eliminate as much waste as possible by recycling all uncontaminated paper products and plastic coverings.

"With education and time, a lot have come to see the wisdom of the ways," Barrow said. "The more education there is about going green, the easier it is for us to integrate new measure into our practice."

This article was printed in the March/April 2011 edition of We Are Clayton magazine.