West Valley Medical Center has 4 LDR’s and a c-section suite within the unit. The Labor and Delivery unit will be going through an updating of the unit, including all 4 LDR’s and the c-section operating room. Our Labor and Delivery staff is experienced and can actively manage all your patients that are laboring, and keep you up to date on any changes, and when you need to be present. Epidurals are available in-house Monday-Friday 24/7 and within 30 minutes over the weekend from 5p Friday-7a Monday. CRNA’s are on first call.
Surgery
Jodi Alphonsus-Director of Surgical Services
We spoke with Jodi to gain insight to the operating rooms and how they are run. The facility has 6 OR’s, three for major cases, three for minor cases. One of the major OR’s is for our Xi. Anesthesia coverage is provided by Anesthesiologists and CRNA’s and it is very good, and the CRNA’s are on first call. Our anesthesiologists work in a supervisory role and can supervise up to 6 CRNA’s depending on the cases performed on that day. Our anesthesiologist does the patient assessment before surgery. CRNA’s manage almost all cases.
The surgeons have dedicated block time for the Xi robot. We have open days every month, and a few Mondays right now. Most surgeons will have one to two days of Xi block time which works best for them. We do not have a GYN surgeon using the robot now, so there will be plenty of time. For DaVinci cases, we have some first assists (FA), but that depends on what the doctor needs. If they need a FA and scrub technician, we just need to have our schedulers know in advance.
Our laparoscopic cases are on a separate day than the robotic day. We do a lot of GYN laparoscopically and not that many open cases. The turnover times are usually 30 minutes or less, depending on the case. Surgery cases get scheduled through our online portal, Scheduling Express. The doctors and schedulers have access and can see any open time or dedicated block time and pick the available time. Once scheduled, our scheduler moves it into Meditech, then the surgery is confirmed. Blocks are released 7 days in advance. We have a service coordinator for GYN, and it is a family atmosphere here, we work hard to get the surgeons what they want/need. Our committee meets once a month to discuss anything that might be needed.
A new GYN Surgeon can get at least one day a week for major and minor laparoscopic cases. We also can-do smaller cases at the surgery center. We have the equipment the doctors need. Our start time is at 7a/7:30a based-on the surgeon’s preference, and the patients arrive 2 hours in advance. They come into and leave through the same entrance. We have a Pre admit clinic and try to get all patients through before the day of surgery, so on the day of surgery it can move more quickly. Physicians arrive at least 15 minutes before surgery. We have a combined 12 pre/post op beds. We have 7 PACU beds, but use 4 of them, then the patient goes to day surgery for discharge.
The Radiology Department is excellent, and we can send patients to Radiology the day of surgery if needed. We have CT, MR, Digital Mammography, and x-ray.
We are a Level 2 stroke center, and have IM-Hospitalists 24/7, but no intensivists so our hospitalists manage the ventilator patients. We have board certified Emergency Medicine residency trained doctors in the ER that sees about 100 visits a day. Mom’s that present in the ER, are brought up to Labor and Delivery and are evaluated and monitored by our Labor and Delivery staff.