Plastic Surgeons’ Surgical Center Certifications
Dr. Body (Beverly Hills board certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D.) and Dr. Face (cosmetic plastic surgeon Robert Kotler, M.D.) use a private surgical facility in Beverly Hills for their rejuvenation surgeries. The facility is designed so that patients can be released after recuperating for several hours after their procedure.
In America, surgical facilities are certified by several bodies and types of inspectors. The whole concept is to provide for the safety of patients and to provide for every possible complication, situation and occurrence – even including fire and earthquakes – that could possibly happen before, during or after plastic surgery.
Drs. Body and Face tell what the alphabet soups of inspection and certification bodies mean to plastic surgery patients.
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Dr. Body (Dr. Linder:) Did you ever have the lights go out, doctor?
Dr. Face: (Dr. Kotler:) Yes, but at home. Fortunately, I have never had the electricity fail while performing a face lift or a rhinoplasty.
Dr. Body: That situation would be covered in a certified surgical center because those facilities are required to have an emergency generator that would supply lighting in emergencies.
Dr. Face: The safety systems, backups and fail safes in America’s private surgical centers never fail to amaze me. I opened the refrigerator there after a cosmetic surgery and noticed the little gizmo that records whether or not the ‘fridge has continuously been supplied with electricity.
Dr. Body: Was that before or after the fire drill?
Dr. Face: Actually, it was during! Thankfully, we are only required to hold one fire drill every six months.
Dr. Body: Correct. If any of what we call biologicals, the chilled serums or specimens taken from a patient for later lab analysis have gone without refrigeration, we need to immediately know it.
Dr. Face: There is one rare condition, malignant hyperthermia, that can arise during general anesthesia. Anesthesiologists, surgeons and patients have no way of predicting its occurrence unless there is a family history. There is no test to identify the condition. It comes on spontaneously during general anesthesia if otherwise safe and common drugs are being used.
Dr. Body: The drug used to treat the condition, Dantrolene, must be available immediately. Chances are excellent any one surgical center will never have a need for it – or ever see a case of malignant hyperthermia — but the antidote is stocked and replaced with fresh supplies as time goes on. Having Dantrolene on hand is a requirement for certification or accreditation of the facility.
Dr. Face: One of the leading surgery center inspecting bodies is known as JCAHO (Joint Commission Accrediting Health Organizations) or just The Joint Commission; it’s the same entity that certifies hospitals. There is no “getting ready” for their inspections because they show up unannounced! Joint Commission inspectors examine 150 items in any operating room.
Dr. Body: Another important credential you may see in an American surgery center is from the US. Government’s Department of Health and Human Services. It is for centers servicing Medicare patients. And the Medicare Certification is a requirement for payment. The certification is like licensure from the state Department of Health and is a sign that center has the most stringent safety standards.
Dr. Face: Now, we really get into alphabet soup. Another sign of certification — and safety — to look for is AAAHC, or American Accreditation for Ambulatory Health Care.
Dr. Body: Yet another, AAAASF, (American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities) also inspects and certifies operating rooms where patients will be safer.
Dr. Face: Some American cosmetic plastic surgeons have an operating suite within the confines of their private offices. If that O.R. carries one of the certifications we have mentioned, it provides the same safeguards as a freestanding surgical center and even hospital operating rooms.
Dr. Body: Of course, all those are for non-emergency, elective services. You would also want to ask the surgeon of your choice where his “hospital privileges” are. That indicates his patients would be quickly admitted in the rare case of a medical emergency.
So the initials indicating safer surgery and many patient safeguards to look for on plastic surgeons’ websites are:
- JCAHO
- ASC
- AAAHC
- AAAASF
Take a look at Dr. Body’s before and after plastic surgery pictures
Here are the before and after cosmetic plastic surgery pictures of Dr. Face.
