ASCs constantly aim to provide better patient care with quality improvement projects. But how do they know if the changes make a difference?
Joel Brown, BSN, RN, clinical director of San Mateo (Calif.) Surgery Center, told Becker's ASC Review what his clinic does to monitor quality among patients and staff.
Note: This response was lightly edited for style.
Question: What are quality improvement studies you've done at your center?
Joel Brown: San Mateo Surgery Center tracks improvement activities through adverse events reporting with the online incident reports and complications reports. These reports reveal indicators for quality improvement projects; it also provides additional tracking and cross-referencing for recommending future projects (ones that would relate to incidents). This was previously completed by pen and paper with manual cross-referencing and records kept in a binder.
SMSC also tracks and monitors effectiveness and safety of its services through quality of care (post-op calls and incident/complication reports) as well as monthly, daily and peer-review audits (for both nurses and physicians). While the system contains data collection, the new centralized quality assurance/performance improvement program updates to accurately reflect the findings and tracks improvement projects completed.
