St Charles Hospital
Improving Surgical Care Through Best-Practice Literature and Order Sets
From 2004 to 2008, St Charles Hospital achieved dramatic improvement on process-of-care, or core, measures, particularly on those intended to reduce surgical complications. Conversations with administrative and clinical staff indicate that St Charles achievements in surgical care can be attributed to a hospital wide focus on quality improvement spurred by involvement in the national Surgical Care Improvement Project as well as to reliance on best-practice literature to get surgeons on board, use of preprinted order sets to standardize care processes, and a steady focus on tracking performance data and communicating results to physicians and other staff
Performance Improvement Strategies
- Provide in-services to educate practitioners about the links between the core measures and optimal reimbursement rates, improved outcomes, and enhanced patient satisfaction.
- Interdisciplinary committee composed of dietician, pharmacist, nurse, and surgeon helped create deep-vein thrombosis physician order form, which includes a screening tool used to determine patient risk.
- Hold Time Outs, including patient safety checks and other reminders, prior to each patient surgery.
