Project Targets Safer Surgery in Oklahoma and Nationwide

More than 40 million operations are performed in the United States each year, many of them complicated by infection, blood clots, and heart problems, among other adverse events. These complications take a toll not only on the patients, but also on the overall cost of health care. A significant percentage of these complications are preventable, however, and OFMQ is playing a major role in a national project to reduce preventable surgical complications nationwide by 25 percent by 2010.

The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) is a national quality partnership of organizations committed to improving patient safety by reducing postoperative complications. SCIP was launched to providers in 2005 and then to consumers in 2006. The Partnership works with technical expert panels and many other supporting partners to achieve the goal of this multiyear health care quality improvement initiative. For a one-page summary of the project and clinical target areas, click here.

Oklahoma hospitals participated in a pilot project in 2004-05 along with hospitals in Kentucky and Ohio. Hospitals in these states identified interventions and tested data collection methods to ensure that hospitals would have access to tools that would provide the most information while being the least burdensome for staff.

A tip sheet specifically designed to spur consumer involvement, “Steps to Safer Surgery,” provides specific questions patients can ask their physicians and nurses before surgery to ensure they are receiving care that will reduce their risk of having complications. .

The SCIP Partnership includes the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the American College of Surgeons, the American Hospital Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and the Veterans Health Administration.

OFMQ provides resources on this project and helped coordinate the provider and consumer launches through its Hospital Interventions QIO Support Center.