Smooth Sailing for Baptist's New Women's Center for Surgery

When performing surgery at Baptist's new Women's Center for Surgery, Robert L. Harris, MD, and Steven E. Speights, MD, often find themselves surrounded by a sea of women.

The new ultra high-tech surgery center that opened earlier this year on the first floor of Baptist for Women at Baptist Medical Center in Jackson features an all-female nursing staff to tend female patients during recovery from surgical procedures.

Both Harris and Speights—board-certified, fellowship-trained OB-GYNs specializing in the care of women with pelvic support and bladder problems and particularly urinary incontinence—are so enthusiastic about the center's four new expansive laparoscopic/robotic surgical suites and the technologically advanced laparoscopic equipment and multiple oversized high-definition monitors, they rarely notice being outnumbered by gender.

In each 841-square-foot suite, anesthesia equipment drops from the ceiling, allowing total movement throughout the room. Robotic surgery is available; so is the latest high-end laparoscopic equipment. Other features include a procedure room, PACU (post-anesthesia care unit), secondary recovery and discharge area, and clinical lab for preoperative testing. And there's one more bonus in every surgical suite, noted Harris: "Having windows is nice for the surgeons so they're not cooped up in an interior room with no view."

Previously, outpatient surgical procedures for women had been performed on the second floor at Baptist in the main operating rooms, where all types of surgeries are performed. Now located on the ground level, the center provides women's-only surgical procedures in a private setting, with a dedicated admission and preoperative area, a private family waiting room, a physician consultation room, and easy parking access.

"The layout and design addresses surgeons' needs by allowing them to put equipment in different areas or positions in the room to make operating more efficient," said Harris, medical director for Women's Services at Baptist Medical Center, who manages eight to 10 cases a week—primarily high-end laparoscopic repair and vaginal reconstruction procedures—in the new surgical center. Speights, his partner with Southeast UroGynecology at Women's Specialty Center, handles approximately the same number of cases weekly.

Barbie Sullivan, MD, director of the Women's Center for Surgery, said hospital administrators initially decided to build the specialty surgical center to complement the roster of subspecialties dedicated to women's health.

"Baptist has every surgical subspecialty of gynecology, whether reproductive endocrinology, infertility, gynecologic oncology, urogynecology or reconstructive vaginal surgery," said Harris. "It's so rare for these services to be offered in a private hospital system."

Sullivan said surgeons were a vital part of the planning phase, and toured surgical suites nationwide to incorporate the best features into the design for the Metro Jackson facility, with an emphasis on efficiency and convenience for female patients. The new set-up also allows physician-referred patients much more streamlined and optional on-demand scheduling.

"Overall," said Harris, "it's one of the nicest operating theaters I've been in."

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