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A closer look at surgical quality measures across different surgical specialties.
Am J Surg. 2010 Jul;200(1):90-96
Authors: Watkins JM, Qadan M, Battista C, Polk HC
BACKGROUND: Most studies of surgical quality improvement have been performed in large and/or teaching hospitals; the efficacy of safety and quality efforts in smaller hospitals have not been reported. METHODS: Four smaller hospitals joined a collaborative to study process measures through an expanded surgical time-out and some outcomes. The data were collected in real time. RESULTS: Well-performing hospitals (all 4) improved further but variably. Gynecologic and orthopedic surgeons performed more consistently in most measures than did general surgeons. CONCLUSIONS: These small hospitals readily accepted a time-out-based real-time data collection and with their surgical staff improved in most parameters.
PMID: 20637341 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]