Qualidigm - Surgical Care Improvement

Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP)

Project Overview
What's New
Tools & Resources
FAQs
Our Partners
Project Team
Events

Project Overview

Postoperative infection is a major cause of patient injury, mortality and health care costs. Initiated in 2003 by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) is a national partnership of organizations committed to improving the safety of surgical care through the reduction of postoperative complications. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to reduce the incidence of surgical complications, more specifically 25 percent by the year 2010.

Participating Hospital Goals - Qualidigm works intensively with eight hospitals to reduce postoperative:

Surgical site infections.
Adverse cardiac events.
Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Qualidigm’s Approach

Qualidigm assists participating hospitals and their surgical teams to follow national guidelines that have been clinically proven by a national panel of experts to improve surgical care by:

Partnership Building

Working with hospital leaders, federal and state agencies and industry associations to create partnerships that expand our collective knowledge and resources to promote quality improvement.

Performance Feedback

Assisting hospitals with their submission of performance data on the SCIP measures.
Providing hospital-specific quarterly data reports with state and national comparisons when available.

Quality Improvement Training and Support

Conducting presentations related to SCIP including a collaboration with the Connecticut Hospital Association and its membership.
Sharing effective quality improvement strategies, expertise and educational materials via face-to-face meetings, conference calls and electronic communication.
Conducting onsite visits and providing individualized quality improvement support.

Marketing and Communications

Recognizing outstanding quality improvement efforts through the Qualidigm Quality Awards program.
Preparing customizable press releases for local media use that highlight and describe the hospital’s quality improvement efforts.

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What's New

BEAGLES Surgical Site Infection Poster - This poster was developed to assist bedside clinicians to better understand and to remember the quality measures associated with decreasing surgical site infections. The poster displays an acronym that can help all to remember.

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Tools & Resources

MedQIC is a website where health care professionals can find and share quality improvement resources and browse through recommended interventions developed by colleagues and experts in their field. MedQIC offers tools, articles and links to resources about how to transform organizational culture, adopt health information technology, redesign care processes, and measure and report performance.
SCIP Made Simpler - Presentation by Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, Principal Clinical Coordinator - Infectious Disease QIOSC, Health Care Quality Improvement Project Director - Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality.
QualityNet Quest - QualityNet Quest is the online questions and answers database for MedQIC. QualityNet Quest provides centralized and standardized management of questions and answers submitted by individuals in the health care quality improvement and patient safety professions.
CATS Surgical Site Infection Poster - This poster was developed to help bedside clinicians better understand and remember the quality measures associated with decreasing surgical site infections. The poster displays an acronym, CATS, that is easy to remember.

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FAQs

What are the SCIP measures?

The SCIP measures focus on reducing complications in four broad categories:

What are my responsibilities as a participating hospital?
A participating hospital will be asked to:

Form a dedicated team for planning and implementing SCIP and other quality improvement activities.
Develop an overall action plan and timeline.
Share progress, barriers and successes during group meetings, WebEx sessions and conference calls.
Actively participate in all related workgroup events.
Secure senior leadership commitment and support.