The Senate Finance Committee is releasing a new report, outlining recommendations for hospitals concerning concurrent surgeries, according to Boston Globe.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The committee asked hospitals to ban surgeons from performing concurrent surgeries, which involve the same surgeon performing two operations, "whose critical parts occur at the same time," according to Boston Globe.
2. Additionally, the committee stated hospitals should clearly note when it proves safe for surgeons to schedule overlapping surgeries, by pinpointing the critical sections of each surgery and ensuring they don't coincide.
3. The Senate Finance Committee also recommended allowing anesthesiologists to cancel procedures if surgeons don't inform patients of overlapping surgeries or plan on performing concurrent surgeries.
4. Opponents of concurrent surgeries argue surgeons face difficulties in focusing fully on two patients, which they fear could lead to patient safety issues.
5. Although the American College of Surgeons released guidelines in April 2016 suggesting hospitals tell patients if their surgeon is elsewhere during the surgery, the new Senate report argued these voluntary guidelines are too lax.
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