Anesthesiology clinics
-
Simulation, a strategy for improving the quality and safety of patient care, is used for the training of technical and nontechnical skills and for training in teamwork and communication. This article reviews simulation-based research, with a focus on anesthesiology, at 3 different levels of outcome: (1) as measured in the simulation laboratory, (2) as measured in clinical performance, and (3) as measured in patient outcomes. It concludes with a discussion of some current uses of simulation, which include the identification of latent failures and the role of simulation in continuing professional practice assessment for anesthesiologists.
-
Multidisciplinary education (MDE) is perceived as the next means of implementing major improvements in the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care. In this article, the authors discuss various definitions of MDE, evaluate how MDE might be implemented in clinical arenas relevant to the anesthesiologist, and describe several implementations of MDE within their hospital and the anesthesiology department.
-
Anesthesiology clinics · Mar 2011
ReviewOutcomes research using quality improvement databases: evolving opportunities and challenges.
The challenges to prospective randomized controlled trials have necessitated the exploration of observational data sets that support research into the predictors and modulators of preoperative adverse events. The primary purpose and design of quality improvement databases is quality assessment and improvement at the local, regional, or national level. However, these data can also provide the opportunity to robustly study specific questions related to patient outcomes with no additional clinical risk to the patient. The virtual explosion of anesthesia-related registries has opened seemingly limitless opportunities for outcomes research in addition to generating hypothesis for more rigorous prospective analysis.
-
Anesthesiology clinics · Mar 2011
An anesthesiology department leads culture change at a hospital system level to improve quality and patient safety.
At New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, an innovative approach to involving housestaff in quality and patient safety, policy and procedure creation, and culture change was led by the Department of Anesthesiology of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. A Housestaff Quality Council was started in 2008 that has partnered with hospital leadership and clinical departments to engage the housestaff in quality and patient safety initiatives, resulting in measurable improvements in several patient care projects and enhanced working relationships among various clinical constituencies. Ultimately this attempt to change culture has found great success in fostering a relationship between the housestaff and the hospital in ways that have and will continue to improve patient care.