The American Journal of Surgery recently published a study that found breast surgeries performed in Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) take on average 69 fewer minutes than breast surgeries performed in hospitals. According to the study, breast surgery performed in an ASC is less time-consuming and more efficient than breast surgery performed in a hospital because the time needed to prepare for surgery is significantly decreased.

Unlike hospitals, ASC facilities are able to avoid unscheduled surgeries, such as add-on cases and emergency cases. ASC facilities are also physically smaller than hospitals, making it easier to move patients and equipment around more quickly, and ASC staff is usually smaller, more consistent and thus able to work more efficiently than hospital staff. Additionally, surgeons are assigned to a single room in an ASC and do not have to change rooms as they do in hospitals, which also saves times.

Study authors Drs. Terrence Trentman, Jeff Mueller, Richard Gray, Barbara Pockaj and Daniel Simula began their research in 2005 when their practice’s ASC facility was closed, which forced all outpatient breast surgeries to be performed alternatively in a hospital setting.

The study authors compared the surgical records of 92 patients who had breast surgery in the ASC facility between January 2004 and December 2005 with the surgical records of 92 patients who had breast surgery in a hospital facility starting January 2006. The cases reviewed for the study involved female patients of similar age, with similar recovery room times, and all of the breast surgeries were performed by the same two salaried surgeons who did not receive additional bonus pay for productivity.

Although the study concluded that ASC facilities offer significant preoperative time-savings, findings also suggested that breast surgery patients spend an almost identical amount of time in an ASC and a hospital once they reach the operating room. So, while study findings support the common perception that outpatient surgery can be far more efficiently performed in dedicated outpatient surgical centers outside of hospitals, such as ambulatory surgery centers, it identifies that the time-savings benefits of an ASC facility are only offered during the preoperative, or preparation, stage of a breast surgery procedure.

The type of anesthesia used during surgery can also affect recovery time immediately following surgery, however this did not significantly affect overall surgical time from the preparation stage to the patient discharge stage.

Dr. Gerald Edds performs all cosmetic breast surgery procedures, including breast augmentation, breast lift and breast reduction, in an efficient, state-of-the-art ASC facility.