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O R E X C E L L E N C E. C O M S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 4
quality improvement studies, you should be starting now.
• On getting your study off the ground. It's important that you spend
enough time organizing and clarifying your thoughts before you get started.
Think about your "customers" — patients, physicians, staff, accreditation organ-
izations, CMS. What does quality mean to them? Is there an everyday problem
that you might be able to solve and by so doing, reduce stress? Involve the staff
to find the problems and to work through solutions. Staff members who are
detail-oriented can help extract data from documentation.
• Don't let studies become too broad. Keep them simple and focused.
Don't get bogged down with too much data. If you're looking at one problem —
for example, overtime — look at the starting times of the first cases of the day,
not every case. Did you change physicians in Room 2? Was he or she late? Tell
the back story of why you are doing the study.
• Know the parameters of your study. Knowing the basic components
of a quality study is key. Accreditation organizations have their guidelines. You
need to set goals for the study. Let's say your goal is to decrease the time before
physicians come into the recovery room by 10%. You should decide on a time
frame for the study — maybe it's a 6-week study, for example, or maybe you
want to examine data you collect over an entire quarter. Create a Word docu-
ment and the framework for collecting data — maybe you'll want to use a ques-
tionnaire or a spreadsheet that can be graphed. Which staff members can help
you?
• Stay on track. Don't fall behind. Stick to the schedule you've laid out and
make sure you're extracting the data you need. If you fall behind, it can be
extremely stressful. And don't let extraneous information that inevitably filters
in distract you. If appropriate, set that data aside for another study or restudy.
K I C K E R
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