Subject(s)
Health Facility Size , Quality Assurance, Health Care/organization & administration , Safety Management/organization & administration , Specialties, Surgical , Attitude of Health Personnel , Humans , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/organization & administration , Surgery Department, Hospital/organization & administrationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Surgical quality measures have room for improvement in both large- and small-town hospitals. METHODS: We sought concurrence of surgical specialists (general, orthopedic, gynecologic) to study accepted quality and safety parameters using a surgical time-out-based platform. RESULTS: Surgeons and hospitalists participated promptly and actively and recorded enhanced performance measures compared with prior work and within the period of study. Practice patterns varied, and interchange among participating hospitals was helpful. CONCLUSIONS: Smaller institutions are more nimble than larger ones and developed interchangeable ideas for improvement. Surgical process measures improved such that all 4 hospitals are concerned about and committed to maintaining the gains.