Risk and Safety Issues in Surgery: Outpatient XVI provides strategies for improving performance in non-technical skills in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). ASCs are becoming more prevalent, and non-technical skills take on different nuances because of the unique setting. The first case scenario explores the use of a shared decision-making framework to evaluate a patient’s suitability to receive care in an ASC. The second scenario examines ways that surgeons can maintain situational awareness in the operating room. The final scenario looks at effective communication during discharge from an ASC; this is vital, given that the patient may have a greater responsibility for their own postoperative care at home.
