A closer look at surgical quality measures across different surgical specialties.
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.
Watkins
James M
JM
Taylor Regional Hospital, Campbellsville, KY, USA.
Qadan
Motaz
M
Battista
Chris
C
Polk
Hiram C
HC
D002985:Clinical Protocols; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006276:Health Facility Size; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D019990:Perioperative Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D013043:Specialties, Surgical; D014481:United States