The jokes are rolling at Carle Health Endoscopy Center, in Peoria, Illinois, but first and foremost is patient safety.
“I personally love that we have fun together at work,” said Jamie Remick, RN. “We joke with each other and patients. We know this is a serious situation, but levity helps keep us grounded. … We really are a team where all members work together. There isn’t any one person who puts their needs above anyone else’s. We know that patient care comes first, and we all do what needs to be done to get the job done right the first time.”
Those efforts must be working, as Carle Health Endoscopy Center was recently awarded the “Best Colonoscopy and Endoscopy” ranking from U.S. News & World Report’s inaugural Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers ratings.
“We were so excited to find out that all of our hard work truly does pay off,” Remick said. “This is our ‘every day,’ but we know it’s not our patients’ ‘every day’ [so] we try to make every patient feel safe. We have an uplifting environment and our patients can feel that we are here to make them feel comfortable during their exam. We are the most compassionate team there is with the best techs and nurses there are. We can get you in and out within an hour, and your care will be top-notch.”
The U.S. News & World Report ranking is validating, said Scott Wu, M.D., medical director of Carle Health Endoscopy Center, Peoria.
“We appreciate the designation as one of the nation’s best ambulatory surgery centers for endoscopy and colonoscopy screenings, particularly during a time when those procedures continue to grow in importance for identifying issues, treating patients, and helping save lives,” Wu said. “This is a validation of the hard work and quality provided by Carle Health physicians and our staff in greater Peoria.”
Factors in the ranking include how well a facility has avoided complications, emergency transfers and other poor outcomes.
The Carle Health Endoscopy Center team performs 35-45 procedures a day, including colonoscopies, upper GI endoscopies and flexible sigmoidoscopies. The facility has five pre-procedure bays, three procedure rooms and six recovery bays.
Regardless of procedure type, every patient is treated as a family member, according to Josh Roy, RN, BSN, the facility’s RN supervisor.
“Our team works together to give quality care to our patients,” Roy said. “Our team is cross-trained to perform different tasks, which allows us to adapt to different situations.”
The team consists of six doctors, three CRNAs, 22 RNs and nine technicians.
“One of the ways our team bonds is [by] having gatherings outside of work,” Roy added. “[For instance], this past year, our charge nurse had a bonfire at her home.”
Every team has its challenges, though.
“One of the challenges we are facing is the increased number of cancellations,” Roy said. “More patients are canceling the day of their procedure, or no-show. We are currently performing a quality improvement study in hopes to decrease the number of cancellations.”
As the team members try to find solutions, they’ll surely keep having fun along the way.
