Quality Improvement Methodology Facilitates Adherence to Echocardiogram Protocol Measurements

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Inconsistent adherence to echocardiogram measurement protocols impacts reporting and clinical decision-making.
• Variability in echocardiogram measurements hinders the effective use of serial assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance adherence to universal and protocol-specific echocardiogram measures for first-time or cardiomyopathy studies.
• To increase complete adherence from 60% to 90% within a defined period.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles over five months, including sonographer education and technical toolbar improvements.
• Implemented a scoring system to track measurement completion and used control charts for compliance monitoring.
• Included all sonographer-performed echocardiograms for first-time or cardiomyopathy protocols.

Main Results:

• Achieved significant improvement in complete universal measures adherence from 60% to 93%.
• First-time study protocol adherence improved from 62% to 90%, sustained over nine months.
• Cardiomyopathy-specific measures showed initial improvement from 87% to 95% before returning to baseline.

Conclusions:

• Quality improvement methodology effectively enhanced adherence to echocardiographic protocol measurements.
• Improved adherence facilitates better echocardiographic quality and reporting consistency.
• Interventions are planned for broader application to other echocardiogram protocols.