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American Morning

'Paging Dr. Gupta'

Aired January 13, 2004 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As many as 70,000 -- make that 70 percent of surgical procedures nationwide now performed in an outpatient setting. A new study examines the risk involved at non- hospital surgeries.
And Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking into this.

Seventy percent, make that.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that number just might be going up.

Bill, I think people are sort amazed when you hear that, that 70 percent or so of all surgical procedures done in the United States are done in outpatient settings or ambulatory surgical centers, or even in doctor's offices.

Good news here is that for the most part, they appear that they're getting pretty safe. It's a largely unregulated industry. When you start doing these procedures outside of inpatient hospital settings, but for the most part, the procedures appear to be really well in terms of overall safety, in terms of overall lack of need for patients to go back to the hospital, to go to the emergency room, things like that.

But having said that, there are always certain procedures to be a little bit more careful about. Again, the number is small for all of these procedures. But if you had to say, what are the most likely procedures that are done in an outpatient setting that are going to land you back in the emergency room, here they are: a hernia repair, prostate resection. Most people say, who, they're doing prostrate resection in an outpatient doctor's office sometime's setting. Yes, they are. Knee arthroscopy. Cataract removal. And even hysterectomy sometimes being done not in an inpatient setting, but rather in an ambulatory surgical center somewhere.

Again, the numbers for those procedures very good, and most patients do just fine after having those done in an ambulatory surgical center. But those are the most likely to land you in an ER -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, play the role of a doctor here quickly. What do you ask your doctor if you're considering this?

GUPTA: Well, I think there's a lot of considerations. You know, ambulatory surgery is not for everyone. For instance, your age, if older than 85, they found there was a greater risk. If you've been hospitalized in the last six months, you probably want to get your procedure done in a hospital, stay overnight, as opposed to an ambulatory surgical care center. Then there are certain procedures that are going to be problematic, procedures that take longer. If it's a very long procedure requiring anesthesia for a longer period of time, then that's going to be problematic.

Questions you should ask your doctor, simple list -- ask you doctor specifically about things like the anesthesia.

Here's the specific procedures considered the riskiest, involving body cavities, longer operations. You can take a look at the list there.

But also ask your doctor about who is going to be administering the anesthesia, the numbers of procedures that are actually performed in any given setting in this particular ambulatory surgical center. What are the complication plans? Let's say something does go wrong, what is this particular center's plan to take care of the problem? Those are important questions to ask as well.

HEMMER: Good stuff to know. Sanjay, thanks. Really interesting.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Center.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 13, 2004 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As many as 70,000 -- make that 70 percent of surgical procedures nationwide now performed in an outpatient setting. A new study examines the risk involved at non- hospital surgeries.
And Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking into this.

Seventy percent, make that.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that number just might be going up.

Bill, I think people are sort amazed when you hear that, that 70 percent or so of all surgical procedures done in the United States are done in outpatient settings or ambulatory surgical centers, or even in doctor's offices.

Good news here is that for the most part, they appear that they're getting pretty safe. It's a largely unregulated industry. When you start doing these procedures outside of inpatient hospital settings, but for the most part, the procedures appear to be really well in terms of overall safety, in terms of overall lack of need for patients to go back to the hospital, to go to the emergency room, things like that.

But having said that, there are always certain procedures to be a little bit more careful about. Again, the number is small for all of these procedures. But if you had to say, what are the most likely procedures that are done in an outpatient setting that are going to land you back in the emergency room, here they are: a hernia repair, prostate resection. Most people say, who, they're doing prostrate resection in an outpatient doctor's office sometime's setting. Yes, they are. Knee arthroscopy. Cataract removal. And even hysterectomy sometimes being done not in an inpatient setting, but rather in an ambulatory surgical center somewhere.

Again, the numbers for those procedures very good, and most patients do just fine after having those done in an ambulatory surgical center. But those are the most likely to land you in an ER -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, play the role of a doctor here quickly. What do you ask your doctor if you're considering this?

GUPTA: Well, I think there's a lot of considerations. You know, ambulatory surgery is not for everyone. For instance, your age, if older than 85, they found there was a greater risk. If you've been hospitalized in the last six months, you probably want to get your procedure done in a hospital, stay overnight, as opposed to an ambulatory surgical care center. Then there are certain procedures that are going to be problematic, procedures that take longer. If it's a very long procedure requiring anesthesia for a longer period of time, then that's going to be problematic.

Questions you should ask your doctor, simple list -- ask you doctor specifically about things like the anesthesia.

Here's the specific procedures considered the riskiest, involving body cavities, longer operations. You can take a look at the list there.

But also ask your doctor about who is going to be administering the anesthesia, the numbers of procedures that are actually performed in any given setting in this particular ambulatory surgical center. What are the complication plans? Let's say something does go wrong, what is this particular center's plan to take care of the problem? Those are important questions to ask as well.

HEMMER: Good stuff to know. Sanjay, thanks. Really interesting.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Center.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com