Preparing for Adverse Events When Performing Office-based Procedures

Constant advances in technology have allowed for increased ease in performing office-based procedures. In addition, the fact that many surgical techniques can now be done under topical or local anesthetia with or without sedation makes them more suitable to a clinical environment.

Performing certain procedures in an otolaryngology office as opposed to an in-hospital setting can have many advantages, such as cost savings, ease of scheduling, and more efficient use of physician and patient time.

Nonetheless, otolaryngologists need to keep in mind that adverse events are a very real risk of in-office treatments and can catch the surgeon and support staff off guard. In-office adverse events are difficult to track and are not likely reported unless they occurred as part of a published paper. A 2013 review summarized six papers on in-office laryngology procedures and showed that the overall adverse event rate is low (Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2013;46:63-74).