Selected Podcast
Pullman Surgical Associates. Surgical Excellence, Simplified
Clinic Manager of Pullman Surgical Associates, Lisa Cordodor, talks about Pullman’s new surgical practice and gives an insider’s perspective from her 14 years of experience working in an operating room.
Featuring:
Lisa Cordodor, RN, BSN, CNOR, MBA
Lisa Cordodor is the Clinic Manager for Pullman Regional Hospital’s new surgery practice – Pullman Surgical Associates. With more than 14 years of experience in the operating room, Lisa’s intimate working knowledge of how surgery works best lends itself to her new role and providing an exceptional experience for both patients and referring providers. Transcription:
Deborah: You know, the thought of getting surgery can be daunting. So it's always good to know as much about the place where you'll be having that surgery as you can.
To tell us more about the excellent services at Pullman, today, we're joined by Lisa Cordodor, the Clinic Manager for Pullman Regional Hospital's new surgery practice, Pullman Surgical Associates. Welcome, Lisa.
Lisa Cordodor: Thank you. It's good to be here.
Deborah: Very fine to have you. So what is general surgery?
Lisa Cordodor: General surgery is a specific surgery specialty that encompasses quite a few things. Predominantly, we'd be talking about working in the abdomen, the abdominal contents organs, like the esophagus, the stomach, intestines, gallbladder, liver, spleen, appendix, things like that. But they also cast a wide net. So they would work on breast surgeries, lung-associated surgeries, thyroid, lumps and bumps all over the body. So it casts a wide net for general surgery. They do a lot, but they're highly specialized.
Deborah: Right. And we do have a lot of parts after all. So what's different about the new practice and the call structure?
Lisa Cordodor: Historically, we've had surgeons that will see patients in clinic to consult for their surgical needs and, from there, schedule them into their surgeries further down the road. The problem is they also were taking call 24/7. So you might have a clinic day and have patients that are waiting to be seen. But if you get called by the ER for an emergency that's coming, you get pulled away and have to do surgery then. Those patients that are waiting in clinic ended up getting bumped or rescheduled, and it puts a kink in the chain.
The new call schedule is different because we have hired on two more acute care surgeons. They're both highly skilled surgeons just like Dr. Visger, Dr. Panko, but they're being hired just to take care of emergency surgeries. So rather than seeing patient in clinic, they're there on call 24/7 to cover all those emergency surgeries, which frees up Dr. Panko and Dr. Visger to see those clinic patients and get them seen and get them scheduled without that same problem of them having to be rescheduled when emergencies come in.
Deborah: That definitely sounds like a win-win. So which physicians are part of the new practice and what type of services do they provide?
Lisa Cordodor: We'll have Dr. Visger and Dr. Panko who were previously with Palouse Surgeons. They'll be coming over into the Pullman practice along with the two new acute care surgeons, which are Dr. Martin and Dr. Zuckerman. Along with them, there will be a medical GI provider. We are still recruiting. We have a temporary person coming in and they will be covering not the surgical needs, but those chronic conditions that need medical management, like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, there's a wide range of GI situations that would require medical management. So we'll have someone to see those patients while the surgeons will be focused on the procedure, everything from open to laparoscopic, to endoscopic, to robotic surgeries, from hernias to appendixes and gallbladders and bowel resections and thyroids.
Deborah: Sounds good. So how does the patient go about making an appointment?
Lisa Cordodor: The patient would call their doctor, their primary doctor, and have a visit with them. And they would talk about their concerns and their potential surgical needs. Their primary doctor would identify that they could be a good candidate for a surgical consult. So their doctor would send us a referral, which is just basically a piece of paper that includes insurance information and says, "Hey, we'd like you to see our patient about this potential hernia" or whatever it might be. We would get that referral, process it and call to schedule an appointment with that patient. So the patient would get a phone call from our office saying, "Hey, we heard from your doctor that you might need to be seen. We'll get you scheduled." And they come in and see our physician. And then our physician can take a look and see if they need surgery or further management. And then report back to their primary doctor what the plan is.
Deborah: Sounds like a good system. Well, all of this of course takes a team, so could you describe who plays a role in the OR?
Lisa Cordodor: The OR is also a highly specialized crew. But beyond the surgeon, you have an anesthesia provider that is in charge of the patient's vital signs in surgery, making sure that they are comfortably asleep. You have the surgical tech and they are a person that is scrubbed in and in charge of the sterile field and the sterile instruments, they're passing instruments to the surgeon. You have the RN circulator that is kind of a rover. If you're a baseball fan, you know what a rover is. They are running the field and coordinating between all the different parties to make sure everyone has what they need. So they'd be helping anesthesia, helping the surgeon, whatever's on the scrub field that they need if they need more equipment or more medication, if they need to coordinate with pathology or blood bank or lab or other departments. They're documenting everything that happens. They're in charge of patient positioning, kind of a Jack of all trades there. And then depending on the procedure, you can also have an RN first assist, which is just an extra set of hands for the surgeon. They have additional training that makes them more specialized, where they can actually help make incisions and put in port sites and suture things closed.
Deborah: Oh, that's wonderful. So what makes an OR staff unique from another specialty or unit?
Lisa Cordodor: They are highly specialized beyond the regular medical field training. They have additional specialty training that is specific to the OR. From procedures to equipment running, whether it's running the robot or other technical information, they have a special skillset that you don't find outside of the OR.
Deborah: Understood. So Lisa, you've worked at Pullman Regional Hospital for 14 years now. What would you say to someone in the region postponing a needed procedure and weighing the area's hospitals?
Lisa Cordodor: I would say that we have an amazing team of highly skilled and experienced personnel, everything from the surgeon down to the surgical tech and the cleaning crews. I'm proud to be a part of this community and this OR crew, the team that is the support staff around them. I wouldn't hesitate to take myself to Pullman Surgery or my family members, my loved ones. They work hard. They're highly skilled. They have a lot of years of experience and they know what they're doing and they care about patients very much.
Deborah: Oh, I can hear that in your voice that you do too. Anything else you'd like to add?
Lisa Cordodor: You know, it's a pleasure to be a part of this community and a part of this healthcare team. And I'm proud to be a part of the Pullman community and the healthcare community.
Deborah: Well, it's been wonderful to have you on the show today. We so appreciate your time and everything you do. Best of luck with the new facility. And for more information, as well as more podcast episodes, you can learn more at pullmanregional.org. Thank you, Lisa.
Lisa Cordodor: Thank you so much.
Deborah: This has been the Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I'm your host, Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have yourself a terrific day.
Deborah: You know, the thought of getting surgery can be daunting. So it's always good to know as much about the place where you'll be having that surgery as you can.
To tell us more about the excellent services at Pullman, today, we're joined by Lisa Cordodor, the Clinic Manager for Pullman Regional Hospital's new surgery practice, Pullman Surgical Associates. Welcome, Lisa.
Lisa Cordodor: Thank you. It's good to be here.
Deborah: Very fine to have you. So what is general surgery?
Lisa Cordodor: General surgery is a specific surgery specialty that encompasses quite a few things. Predominantly, we'd be talking about working in the abdomen, the abdominal contents organs, like the esophagus, the stomach, intestines, gallbladder, liver, spleen, appendix, things like that. But they also cast a wide net. So they would work on breast surgeries, lung-associated surgeries, thyroid, lumps and bumps all over the body. So it casts a wide net for general surgery. They do a lot, but they're highly specialized.
Deborah: Right. And we do have a lot of parts after all. So what's different about the new practice and the call structure?
Lisa Cordodor: Historically, we've had surgeons that will see patients in clinic to consult for their surgical needs and, from there, schedule them into their surgeries further down the road. The problem is they also were taking call 24/7. So you might have a clinic day and have patients that are waiting to be seen. But if you get called by the ER for an emergency that's coming, you get pulled away and have to do surgery then. Those patients that are waiting in clinic ended up getting bumped or rescheduled, and it puts a kink in the chain.
The new call schedule is different because we have hired on two more acute care surgeons. They're both highly skilled surgeons just like Dr. Visger, Dr. Panko, but they're being hired just to take care of emergency surgeries. So rather than seeing patient in clinic, they're there on call 24/7 to cover all those emergency surgeries, which frees up Dr. Panko and Dr. Visger to see those clinic patients and get them seen and get them scheduled without that same problem of them having to be rescheduled when emergencies come in.
Deborah: That definitely sounds like a win-win. So which physicians are part of the new practice and what type of services do they provide?
Lisa Cordodor: We'll have Dr. Visger and Dr. Panko who were previously with Palouse Surgeons. They'll be coming over into the Pullman practice along with the two new acute care surgeons, which are Dr. Martin and Dr. Zuckerman. Along with them, there will be a medical GI provider. We are still recruiting. We have a temporary person coming in and they will be covering not the surgical needs, but those chronic conditions that need medical management, like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, there's a wide range of GI situations that would require medical management. So we'll have someone to see those patients while the surgeons will be focused on the procedure, everything from open to laparoscopic, to endoscopic, to robotic surgeries, from hernias to appendixes and gallbladders and bowel resections and thyroids.
Deborah: Sounds good. So how does the patient go about making an appointment?
Lisa Cordodor: The patient would call their doctor, their primary doctor, and have a visit with them. And they would talk about their concerns and their potential surgical needs. Their primary doctor would identify that they could be a good candidate for a surgical consult. So their doctor would send us a referral, which is just basically a piece of paper that includes insurance information and says, "Hey, we'd like you to see our patient about this potential hernia" or whatever it might be. We would get that referral, process it and call to schedule an appointment with that patient. So the patient would get a phone call from our office saying, "Hey, we heard from your doctor that you might need to be seen. We'll get you scheduled." And they come in and see our physician. And then our physician can take a look and see if they need surgery or further management. And then report back to their primary doctor what the plan is.
Deborah: Sounds like a good system. Well, all of this of course takes a team, so could you describe who plays a role in the OR?
Lisa Cordodor: The OR is also a highly specialized crew. But beyond the surgeon, you have an anesthesia provider that is in charge of the patient's vital signs in surgery, making sure that they are comfortably asleep. You have the surgical tech and they are a person that is scrubbed in and in charge of the sterile field and the sterile instruments, they're passing instruments to the surgeon. You have the RN circulator that is kind of a rover. If you're a baseball fan, you know what a rover is. They are running the field and coordinating between all the different parties to make sure everyone has what they need. So they'd be helping anesthesia, helping the surgeon, whatever's on the scrub field that they need if they need more equipment or more medication, if they need to coordinate with pathology or blood bank or lab or other departments. They're documenting everything that happens. They're in charge of patient positioning, kind of a Jack of all trades there. And then depending on the procedure, you can also have an RN first assist, which is just an extra set of hands for the surgeon. They have additional training that makes them more specialized, where they can actually help make incisions and put in port sites and suture things closed.
Deborah: Oh, that's wonderful. So what makes an OR staff unique from another specialty or unit?
Lisa Cordodor: They are highly specialized beyond the regular medical field training. They have additional specialty training that is specific to the OR. From procedures to equipment running, whether it's running the robot or other technical information, they have a special skillset that you don't find outside of the OR.
Deborah: Understood. So Lisa, you've worked at Pullman Regional Hospital for 14 years now. What would you say to someone in the region postponing a needed procedure and weighing the area's hospitals?
Lisa Cordodor: I would say that we have an amazing team of highly skilled and experienced personnel, everything from the surgeon down to the surgical tech and the cleaning crews. I'm proud to be a part of this community and this OR crew, the team that is the support staff around them. I wouldn't hesitate to take myself to Pullman Surgery or my family members, my loved ones. They work hard. They're highly skilled. They have a lot of years of experience and they know what they're doing and they care about patients very much.
Deborah: Oh, I can hear that in your voice that you do too. Anything else you'd like to add?
Lisa Cordodor: You know, it's a pleasure to be a part of this community and a part of this healthcare team. And I'm proud to be a part of the Pullman community and the healthcare community.
Deborah: Well, it's been wonderful to have you on the show today. We so appreciate your time and everything you do. Best of luck with the new facility. And for more information, as well as more podcast episodes, you can learn more at pullmanregional.org. Thank you, Lisa.
Lisa Cordodor: Thank you so much.
Deborah: This has been the Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I'm your host, Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have yourself a terrific day.