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Quality improvement and patient care checklists in intrahospital transfers involving pediatric surgery patients

Don K Nakayama1, Sally S Lester, Darla R Rich

  • 1Department of Surgery, Mercer University School of Medicine and Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon, GA 31201, USA. Nakayama.Don@mccg.org

Journal of Pediatric Surgery
|January 17, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Implementing a checklist for pediatric surgical intrahospital transfers significantly reduced patient care problems. This quality improvement initiative enhanced safety during transfers.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Healthcare Quality Improvement
  • Patient Safety

Background:

  • Intrahospital transfers are essential but risky for pediatric surgical patients.
  • Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) processes can identify and mitigate hospitalization risks.
  • Improving care systems and patient safety during transfers is critical.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and evaluate a checklist for intrahospital transfers of pediatric surgical inpatients.
  • To identify and reduce risks associated with intrahospital patient transfers.
  • To enhance communication and system feedback for pediatric surgical care.

Main Methods:

  • A multidisciplinary team created a checklist for documenting patient data and handoffs during intrahospital transfers.
  • The checklist summarized clinical events and provided quarterly reviews over one year.
  • Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) methodology guided the quality improvement process.

Main Results:

  • A total of 903 transfers involving 583 pediatric surgical inpatients were analyzed.
  • Documented problems occurred in 3.4% of transfers, with a significant decrease observed after the first quarter (P < .001).
  • Patient care issues were the most common problems identified (45%), followed by documentation and process issues.

Conclusions:

  • PDSA review and multidisciplinary team analysis are key to ongoing process improvement.
  • Checklists effectively reinforce communication during patient transfers.
  • Checklists provide crucial feedback on achieving system safety goals in pediatric surgical care.
Abstract

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