A two-part quality assurance project addressing infection rates of wounds sutured in the emergency department.
The process and outcome of our QA program suggest many areas for further examination; a study featuring a larger sample and more rigorous experimental research could address these. Our immediate goals, however--to examine the quality of wound care in our emergency department and to improve it--were accomplished. What is perhaps more important, this QA project made us look at our practice and realize that we could change things. We identified a problem, studied it, and did something about it.
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000985:Antisepsis / Q000592:standards*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control