Choosing a Plastic Surgeon in Charleston, SC: Our Accredited OR on Daniel Island

Choosing a Plastic Surgeon in Charleston, SC involves many questions and considerations, most importantly whether your Plastic Surgeon is Board Certified in plastic surgery. But where you have your surgery may be almost as important as who does your surgery. Excellent plastic surgeons only operate in a safe operating room, which means one that has been accredited by a recognized national certifying agency.

How can you tell if the plastic surgeon you are interested in is operating in an accredited OR? Ask to see photos and look for:

• Venetian blinds on the windows
• Carpeting on the floor
• A sink in the room
• A baseboard where the wall meets the floor.
• Your rights and responsibilities as a patient are prominently displayed.

Did you know: none of the above are allowed in an operating room! Why not? All of these items make it more difficult to properly clean and sanitize the OR.

Your surgery should be done in an accredited operating room by a Board certified plastic surgeon for one reason: YOUR SAFETY.

Some accreditation features are invisible to the eye, but they impact patient safety:

• Patient care and treatment are reviewed regularly.
• Fire, earthquake, and other safety protocols are reviewed regularly.
• Infections, complications, sterilization checks, and other data are monitored and measured for patient safety.
• Drug tracking, expiration checks, and emergency medication supplies are kept up to date.
• Medical records are checked to make sure they’re complete and up-to-date.

Plastic Surgeon in Charleston, SC

• Standards are set so that deep levels of anesthesia are performed only by an anesthesia professional (physician anesthesiologist or a CRNA) and all staffing positions are filled with certified or licensed individuals appropriate for the job.
• Quality management to ensure best standards are conducted and reviewed.
• Surgeons monitor each other through “peer review” to make sure safety measures and standards of care are followed on a regular basis.
• Protocols are reviewed and verified every third year.

An Accredited OR is Expensive

Why would a plastic surgeon operate in an facility that isn’t accredited?

One big reason: the cost. It’s expensive to run an accredited facility, but at Port City Plastic Surgery, patient safety comes first at all times. Don’t be fooled by doctors promoting the safety of surgery done under local anesthesia. They may be masking an unaccredited facility and the inability to offer general anesthesia.

How To Check Accreditation

If you’re planning to have plastic surgery, confirm that your plastic surgeon will be operating in a facility that has been accredited by one of the following nationally recognized agencies:

• The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc., accessible at www.aaaasf.org
• Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, Inc., accessible at www.aaahc.org
• Institute for Medical Quality, accessible at www.IMQ.org
• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization, accessible at www.jointcommission.org

We invite you to visit our fully accredited plastic surgery offices located on Daniel Island near Charleston, SC during your consult with Dr. Widenhouse.

Our Offices at Port City Plastic Surgery Are Convenient, Safe and Discreet

Doing your homework and finding out about accreditation well before the day of your plastic surgery will help minimize your surgical risks. For example, you don’t want to be in a facility without a back-up generator if the power goes out!

Dr. Brian G. Widenhouse is a Charleston, SC plastic surgeon who operates in a fully accredited operating room. At Port City Plastic Surgery, we care as much about your safety as you do, and that’s comforting to know.

“Dr. Widenhouse was one of the first in the area to have his own fully accredited surgery center, outside a hospital. As a trailblazer in office-based surgery in Charleston, he has his monitoring and sterilization procedures down pat, and the best and most modern equipment and technology. He’s also been doing this a long time. Together, Dr. Widenhouse and I have done over thousands of surgeries. You can bet that kind of experience matters to all of our patients.” – Our Harvard-educated anesthesiologist Dr. Mark Segal, one of South Carolina’s top anesthesiologists

If you are interested in a comfortable, relaxed plastic surgery experience in our state-of-the-art facilities, aplease call or email us at Port City Plastic Surgery in Charleston, South Carolina today to schedule an appointment.