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The Day Surgery Center at Glens Falls Hospital

As part of its commitment to restoring local people’s health and returning them to their own homes as soon as their good health allows, Glens Falls Hospital in 1976 opened the first certified ambulatory surgery unit in New York State.

Over the next two decades, technological innovations, such as laser surgery, laparoscopy and endoscopy, began allowing a greater variety of surgical procedures to be performed on an ambulatory basis.

In July 1993, the $9-million, 18,700-square-foot Day Surgery Center at Glens Falls Hospital opened its doors. The Center’s location, in the newly constructed Pruyn Pavilion, an annex to the main hospital building, offers patients the best of both worlds.

No longer do ambulatory surgery patients have to navigate the maze of corridors and departments in the much-larger hospital building. Instead, they enter through a separate entranceway and find themselves in a bright, spacious, patient-friendly waiting area, more representative of their family doctor’s office.  Admitting rooms, operating facilities and recovery units are all within close proximity, yet discreetly isolated from public areas.

At the same time, the Center’s attachment to the hospital’s inpatient surgery suite through a connected walkway, , ensures the availability of a broad diversity of acute care services at virtually a moment’s notice.

The Day Surgery Center has eight operating rooms, with specific rooms dedicated to and equipped especially for eye care, orthopedics, gynecology and ear, nose and throat procedures. In addition, the Center includes both primary and secondary recovery rooms and a specially designed recovery room exclusively for pediatric patients. The Day Surgery Center is staffed by 32 registered nurses, four licensed practical nurses, six nurses aides and five office support people.

The staff of the Day Surgery Center practices “Primary Care Nursing,” whereby patients are greeted in one of 11 private admitting rooms by a “primary nurse” who remains with that patient throughout the operative procedure, promoting greater comfort and continuity of care for both the patient and his or her family. 

When it comes to pediatric patients,  parents are often allowed and, in fact, encouraged, to remain in the operating room for the procedure. Our nursing staff has also produced a videotape detailing a child’s visit to the Day Surgery Center for use in individual and group settings.

A recent survey conducted by Press Ganey, a national polling firm, found 96% of our patients rating the Day Surgery Center’s services as “good” or “very good.”