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Quality improvement principles in practice: the reduction of umbilical cord blood errors in the labor and delivery
M Heckman1, S Y Ajdari, M Esquivel
1Los Angeles County-Department of Health Services, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, USA.
Abstract:
Mislabeled umbilical cord blood specimens were identified as an important and difficult problem to solve. Quality improvement principles were employed after education-based interventions failed to achieve measurable improvement. A small interdisciplinary working group of key stakeholders investigated, designed, and evaluated interventions for a solution. This article describes a system-based change where substantial qualitative and quantitative improvements were measured. The success of the change is attributed to the involvement and commitment by key stakeholders and use of systems reengineering principles.