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About Surgical Hospitals
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Emirates Hospital: The first multi-specialty surgical hospital in the UAE.
By Max Sawaf, M.D.
Emirates Hospital is the first surgical hospital in The Middle East to become a member of the American Surgical Hospital Association.
So what is a surgical Hospital? The community hospital is the department store of healthcare, the jack of all trades. But it is a model with limitations, the limitations of the generalist. In the complex world of healthcare delivery, it is impossible for the generalist to be superior in every aspect. In the delivery of surgical services, for example, a traditional role for general hospitals, the specialist argument is a compelling one. In the last 20 years, surgery has been transformed from an inpatient service to an outpatient service. In 2002, 78% of surgeries performed in the USA were done as day case surgery.
The movement from inpatient to outpatient, into an environment that is non-institutional and friendly for patients, efficient for physicians, and preferred by nurses has been dramatic. By focusing on a specific group of patients, healthy people undergoing elective surgery, same day surgery centers have convincingly demonstrated that patient satisfaction goes up and costs go down and technical indicators such as infection rates improve when elective surgery is moved to the outpatient setting.
A logical extension of the superior same day surgery center model is the addition of beds, the surgery hospital. Such a model offers the patients the flexibility of staying in the hospital for a few days while benefiting from the efficiencies and cost savings of the same day surgery center which caters to healthy patients who face the need for inpatient services.
There are now more than 100 studies that have demonstrated superior results from concentrating surgical services, that is, from specialization. Hospitals that specialize in high volumes of cardiac surgery or orthopaedic surgery have lower costs and lower complications.
Although apparently a “new” phenomenon, specialty hospitals are a continuation of a decade’s long trend toward specialization in healthcare. In the past, size and breadth of services, rather than efficiency and effectiveness, became measures of success. Lost in the expansion of physical plant and its attendant layers of corporate bureaucracy were patient care, attention to the working conditions of nurses, the efficiency needs of physicians and the cost needs of payers.
The case for specialization in healthcare is too compelling and has demonstrated too many benefits and is being encouraged as a matter of policy by the visionary leaders of Dubai. Witness their plans for the Dubai Health City with a hospital for orthopaedic surgery, one for cardiac surgery, a central laboratory and a center for diabetes.
Following the lead of surgical hospitals in the USA, a variety of specialized surgery hospital models are being developed in Dubai. Some are multi-specialty; like the new Emirates Hospital in Jumeirah, the first multi-specialty surgical hospital in UAE with twenty three beds, five operating rooms and one endoscopy suite, some are in the planning stages and will be focusing more on a specific sector of medical care such as women’s services, cardiac surgery, eye surgery, or orthopaedic.
At the Emirates Hospital's Same Day Surgery unit, the special needs of many surgery patients may be met in one day in a home-like atmosphere, with personal attention and lower prices than inpatient surgery. Emirates Hospital offers the protective back-up with the full services of an acute care hospital. Our anaesthesia team and nurses are experts at same day surgery.
We also have the flexibility to keep the patient for 1-5 days for cases such as gastric banding or total knee replacement.
The Emirates Hospital in Jumeirah promises to produce superior clinical outcomes and a better experience for the patient. Our medical staff and administration are committed to delivering “betterfasterfriendlier” surgical services all at the same time. That is our difference.
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