These days less and less surgery is being performed in hospitals and more and more surgery is being performed in medical offices outside of the normal hospital system. Think of these places as little centers that are set up by doctors themselves to perform minor surgeries much cheaper than at the major hospitals.
These things range from laser eye surgery centers to wart removal centers and other things like that.
Before you use one of these places for which ever type of surgery you require, here are several questions you should ask the doctors involved before you have the surgery. In some cases these questions could very well save your life.
The first question to ask your doctor is whether or not they have hospital privileges to perform the procedure that they will be performing on you in the office center. Hospitals only grant hospital privilege to doctors who have undergone a lot of scrutiny. Generally speaking you only want to use a doctor who does have hospital privileges. Failure to have these privileges may be an important red flag for you to keep in mind.
The next question to ask is how many similar procedures has the doctor performed. Surgery is like anything else in life, the more often you do it the better at it you get. You should only use surgeons who have done the operation many many times in the past with successful results.
The next question to ask is whether or not the office is prepared for emergencies. At the very minimum the office should have a crash cart that is equipped with a defibrillator. Life support equipment is also a plus. When it comes to this sort of thing, more is obviously better.
The next question to ask is whether or not the doctor has an ongoing relationship with a specific ambulance company. This is important because especially in a large city, ambulance drivers have to be familiar with the location of the office in order to find it quickly. They also need to know the quickest routes from the office to the hospital and without an ongoing relationship they might not know it. Seconds count after all.
Finally you should ask whether or not the office has been accredited. Depending on the services they’re offering different agencies may be involved in certification and accreditation. Don’t be shy about asking to see these certificates of accreditation. Most doctors will have these hanging on the wall in the reception room anyway but it never hurts to ask and no doctor should feel bad about you asking.
So there you have several questions you should ask your doctor before having surgery in an off hospital facility of any kind. When it comes to this sort of thing, the more questions you ask the better because this is your health we are talking about, and nothing is more important than that.



