Surgery

Excerpt

The role of a surgical facility manager (SFM) within a laboratory animal surgical facility, or surgery department, has changed significantly over the past 15–20 years. Historically, because of their advanced training and experience, veterinarians were usually involved in managing surgical facilities in a research environment. However, in recent years, because of increased veterinary animal care and use responsibilities, in some instances this has resulted in nonveterinarians assuming that role. In either case, a present-day SFM should have both knowledge and skills in a number of important areas to be successful. These include a comprehension of procedure scheduling, budget management and billing, equipment maintenance, procurement and inventory management, employee management, training of personnel and investigators, animal and data record maintenance, standard operating procedures (SOPs) development, and active involvement in facility maintenance and renovation projects. In addition, the SFM may even serve as a principal investigator (PI) or coinvestigator for studies. Another key to success for the SFM is to have excellent interpersonal skills. For either the veterinarian or nonveterinarian SFM, it may take a number of years through both experience and specialized training to acquire this knowledge and skills. In those facilities where the SFM is a nonveterinarian, there should be a close working relationship between the SFM and the facility veterinarian to ensure that all animal care and use activities are appropriate.