Why the Cardiovascular specific ASC is the best approach

The treatment of Heart and Vascular disease is complicated and involves complex systems. The diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease requires years of training and clinical experience to provide safe, high level patient care.

When we move procedures which have traditionally been performed in the hospital setting into the freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Center we need to expect the same level of training and experience in the ASC that we have come to expect in the inpatient setting.

In the hospital cathlab, CVOR, Interventional Radiology and Endovascular lab we rarely, if ever, find cross training of nurses, scrub techs, radiation technologists who also assist with GI, ortho, urology or ENT surgery.

Not to say that clinicians trained in these other specialties can not provide great care to our CV patient, but their lack of specific CV knowledge and experience may prevent adequate patient selection, risk assessment, understanding of CV comorbidities, early recognition of cardiac rhythm or hemodynamic changes which require early intervention in the periprocedural period to list just a few.

In my professional opinion when Physicians, Practitioners, Nurses, Technicians, Medical assistants and Management within an ASC focus on patients with disease we have trained years to understand and perfect we provide the greatest service to our patients, community and the staff alike.