title: A Case Illustrating the Costs of Quality Improvement: Nine Months to Move Needles and Syringes on the Anesthesia Cart.
abstract: Powerful entities are pushing physicians to become more involved with quality improvement (QI). We report a QI project to standardize and improve the ergonomics of the anesthesia medication and supply cart. Simply obtaining approval to make minor changes to the cart involved 54 phone calls, 164 e-mails, 4 presentations, 2 forms, 9 meetings, and 4 months of time. Confusion over fiscal matters further delayed the project by an additional 3 months. A combination of competing regulations, administrative overprocessing, and the lack of dedicated QI financial resources made simple improvements a challenge. The costs of participating in QI deserve attention.
authors: From the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
authors: Alexander K
authors: AK
authors: Quick
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Macario
authors: John G
authors: JG
authors: Brock-Utne
authors: Richard A
authors: RA
authors: Jaffe
authors: Bassam
authors: B
authors: Kadry
mesh_terms: D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002140:California; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles / Q000592:standards*; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000458:organization & administration*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000191:economics*; D013594:Syringes / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors