Thursday, April 02, 2009

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) has recognized Presbyterian Hospital as one of  26 ACS NSQIP participating hospitals in the United States that have achieved exemplary outcomes for surgical patient care. 

“The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce infections, other complications and deaths related to surgical procedures,” said Dr. Stephen Wallenhaupt, Chief Medical Officer of Novant Health. “Additionally, the program provides a firm foundation for surgeons to continuously make improvements in the practice of surgery for the benefit of our patients. “

The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving exemplary outcome performances related to patient care management in five clinical areas: 

• DVT (deep vein thrombosis, thrombophlebitis and pulmonary embolism)
• Cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction)
• Respiratory incidents (unplanned intubation, ventilator dependence for more than 48 hours and pneumonia)
• SSI (surgical site infections-superficial and deep incisional and organ-space SSIs)
• Urinary tract infection

Dr. William A. Walker, chief of the Presbyterian Hospital Medical Staff and a colorectal surgeon added, “By being one of the first non-university hospitals in North Carolina to adopt ACS NSQIP, Presbyterian Hospital reaffirmed its commitment to provide high quality care to our patients.  This is another example of the excellent collaboration between Presbyterian Hospital and its medical staff to improve our patient outcomes."

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, Presbyterian Hospital is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that directs patient safety and the quality of surgical care improvements.   To do this, the hospital hired Billie Sellers, RN, several years ago to monitor the data full-time. “Billie has been a surgical nurse for more than 35 years,” explained Dr. Wallenhaupt. “She has a unique understanding of the surgical process and how that relates to patient safety.”

“This program gives us the ability to compare ourselves to other hospitals to see what we are doing right as well as identify areas for improvement,” said Sellers.  

The 26 hospitals commended achieved the distinction of attaining exemplary results in two or more of the five areas listed above.  Risk-adjusted data from the June 2008 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated exemplary outcomes.   

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. This program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels.  Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced and/or eliminated, a reduction in health care costs follows.  ACS NSQIP is a major program of the American College of Surgeons and is currently used in over 225 hospitals.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient.  The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients.  The College has more than 74,000 members and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.