Abstract
Background. Quality assurance (QA) programs are critical to ensuring patient safety in current anesthesiology practices. While challenging to adapt to daily practice, rates of case entry into other Anesthesiology quality assurance databases have ranged from 48% to 85.1%. The goal of this study was to investigate entry rates at our institution’s voluntary QA database and uncover patterns of reporting. Methods. From 2013 to 2017, a total of 61,492 surgeries were analyzed to determine the rates of voluntary reporting of all cases (with or without a reportable incident) in our QA database by comparing the number of total procedures billed in that time to the total number of cases input into the QA system. Results. The overall compliance rate of entry of cases into the QA database during the 5 year period analyzed was 65.51%. Cases in the Main OR had a higher 5 year rate of entry compared to cases in the Same Day Surgery center. Interestingly, during the 5 year period, July has consistently had the highest rate of case entry (72.54%) into the QA Database, perhaps due to the start of the new academic year for residents. More importantly, there was a decreasing trend of entry into the QA database over the 5 year period of study. From an initial rate of 84.37% in 2013, compliance rates have gradually declined to 78.88% in 2014, 67.30% in 2015, 54.18% in 2016, and 45.16% in 2017. Conclusion. The inherent disadvantages of a voluntary reporting system combined with the growing requirement for quality improvement measures in today’s healthcare system reflect the necessity for particular interventions at our institution aimed at increasing QA compliance rates.
Breakthrough in breast reconstruction in the context of COVID-19: safety and efficiency of endoscopic breast reconstruction at a day surgery center
