Surgery Center

St. John's Surgery Center, a 216,000-square-foot, six-floor outpatient surgery center and medical office building, opened at the corner of National and Seminole in the summer of 2003.

The facility houses eight outpatient operating rooms and offices for St. John's Clinic-Eye Specialists, Dermatology, Plastic Surgery, Orthopedics and Ear, Nose and Throat.

St. John's Hospital Vice President Jay Guffey said the new facility will focus on scheduled, elective surgeries.

"The flow and efficiency of those cases will be much different at the new facility than in our main OR," Guffey said. "I think that's what our doctors are looking for. Even though we'll be performing an increased volume at the new facility, we'll be able to do it more efficiently than we can in the existing ORs," Guffey said.

He said the new center will relieve space constraints in the main OR, as well as decrease the likelihood of bumping elective surgeries when staff and operating rooms are needed for trauma cases.

The facility accommodates 10,000-12,000 cases per year, or at least 40 cases per day.

"Our feeling is that we'll fill up those eight rooms with cases from the beginning  our surgery volume here has continued to grow at a 3-5-percent rate every year. We're going to take that predictable outpatient volume to another location, and it should make both of the inpatient and outpatient surgery departments here much more efficient," said Christy Dempsey, vice president.

Other benefits of the new facility are a separate entrance and exit.

"Patients enter the building for their procedure through one door and exit through another door. This provides more privacy for patients, especially those coming in for elective procedures, such as plastic surgery," he said. The surgery center's one-way path relieves congestion transporting patients from one area to another in the building, he added.

The new building  houses medical offices for about 35 physicians. The Skyview Cafe is on the sixth floor and Mercy Mocha is located on the first floor.

"I think the key word to describe this new facility is predictability. Some surgery staff enjoy the unpredictable schedule of the OR, some do not. Staff at this new facility will most likely be people who enjoy working set hours and knowing what's ahead of them for the day," Dempsey said.