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NEW ORLEANS – A standardized checklist may help reduce errors and improve common quality measures in critically ill patients, results of a recent retrospective analysis of 200 consecutive patients suggest.
Use of the checklist was linked to significantly shorter hospital length of stay and ICU length of stay as well as fewer days on a ventilator in the analysis, which was presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians. The 10-item standardized checklist covered a variety topics ranging from comfort, prophylaxis, and sedation to infection control and prevention, nutrition, and medication management review.
Although health economics weren’t evaluated in this analysis, changes in those quality measures might also impact the bottom line, according to study coauthor Priscilla Chow, DO, a resident at Suburban Community Hospital in East Norriton, Pa.
“Obviously, if the patient is spending less time in the hospital and fewer days on the ventilator and in the ICU, then we can potentially also be more cost effective in our care,” Dr. Chow said in a podium presentation at the meeting.
The use of checklists to standardize processes and reduce errors is a “relatively simple approach” that was adopted from the airline industry and now has been evaluated in a variety of medical care settings, according to Dr. Chow.
Previous studies have demonstrated that checklist-driven care may reduce the incidence of postoperative complications, central line–associated bloodstream infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter associated–urinary tract infection.
The present retrospective data analysis by Dr. Chow and colleagues included 200 consecutive patients admitted to the surgical ICU at an urban level 1 trauma center, including 100 patients managed according to the checklist and 100 managed according to standard processes.
Though survival to discharge was comparable between the groups, use of the checklist was associated with a significantly shorter hospital length of stay versus standard care (23.9 vs. 9.5 days). Likewise, the ICU length of stay was shorter in the checklist group (13.0 vs. 6.5 days), and the checklist group had fewer ventilator days (7.7 to 2.8).
Injury Severity Score did not differ between groups, though overall, use of the checklist resulted in more of the underlying topics being addressed in clinical documentation (5.0 vs. 8.7 items).
Dr. Chow and colleagues disclosed that they had no relationships relevant to their study.
SOURCE: Akella K et al. CHEST 2019. Abstract, doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.201.
NEW ORLEANS – A standardized checklist may help reduce errors and improve common quality measures in critically ill patients, results of a recent retrospective analysis of 200 consecutive patients suggest.
Use of the checklist was linked to significantly shorter hospital length of stay and ICU length of stay as well as fewer days on a ventilator in the analysis, which was presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians. The 10-item standardized checklist covered a variety topics ranging from comfort, prophylaxis, and sedation to infection control and prevention, nutrition, and medication management review.
Although health economics weren’t evaluated in this analysis, changes in those quality measures might also impact the bottom line, according to study coauthor Priscilla Chow, DO, a resident at Suburban Community Hospital in East Norriton, Pa.
“Obviously, if the patient is spending less time in the hospital and fewer days on the ventilator and in the ICU, then we can potentially also be more cost effective in our care,” Dr. Chow said in a podium presentation at the meeting.
The use of checklists to standardize processes and reduce errors is a “relatively simple approach” that was adopted from the airline industry and now has been evaluated in a variety of medical care settings, according to Dr. Chow.
Previous studies have demonstrated that checklist-driven care may reduce the incidence of postoperative complications, central line–associated bloodstream infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter associated–urinary tract infection.
The present retrospective data analysis by Dr. Chow and colleagues included 200 consecutive patients admitted to the surgical ICU at an urban level 1 trauma center, including 100 patients managed according to the checklist and 100 managed according to standard processes.
Though survival to discharge was comparable between the groups, use of the checklist was associated with a significantly shorter hospital length of stay versus standard care (23.9 vs. 9.5 days). Likewise, the ICU length of stay was shorter in the checklist group (13.0 vs. 6.5 days), and the checklist group had fewer ventilator days (7.7 to 2.8).
Injury Severity Score did not differ between groups, though overall, use of the checklist resulted in more of the underlying topics being addressed in clinical documentation (5.0 vs. 8.7 items).
Dr. Chow and colleagues disclosed that they had no relationships relevant to their study.
SOURCE: Akella K et al. CHEST 2019. Abstract, doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.201.
NEW ORLEANS – A standardized checklist may help reduce errors and improve common quality measures in critically ill patients, results of a recent retrospective analysis of 200 consecutive patients suggest.
Use of the checklist was linked to significantly shorter hospital length of stay and ICU length of stay as well as fewer days on a ventilator in the analysis, which was presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians. The 10-item standardized checklist covered a variety topics ranging from comfort, prophylaxis, and sedation to infection control and prevention, nutrition, and medication management review.
Although health economics weren’t evaluated in this analysis, changes in those quality measures might also impact the bottom line, according to study coauthor Priscilla Chow, DO, a resident at Suburban Community Hospital in East Norriton, Pa.
“Obviously, if the patient is spending less time in the hospital and fewer days on the ventilator and in the ICU, then we can potentially also be more cost effective in our care,” Dr. Chow said in a podium presentation at the meeting.
The use of checklists to standardize processes and reduce errors is a “relatively simple approach” that was adopted from the airline industry and now has been evaluated in a variety of medical care settings, according to Dr. Chow.
Previous studies have demonstrated that checklist-driven care may reduce the incidence of postoperative complications, central line–associated bloodstream infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter associated–urinary tract infection.
The present retrospective data analysis by Dr. Chow and colleagues included 200 consecutive patients admitted to the surgical ICU at an urban level 1 trauma center, including 100 patients managed according to the checklist and 100 managed according to standard processes.
Though survival to discharge was comparable between the groups, use of the checklist was associated with a significantly shorter hospital length of stay versus standard care (23.9 vs. 9.5 days). Likewise, the ICU length of stay was shorter in the checklist group (13.0 vs. 6.5 days), and the checklist group had fewer ventilator days (7.7 to 2.8).
Injury Severity Score did not differ between groups, though overall, use of the checklist resulted in more of the underlying topics being addressed in clinical documentation (5.0 vs. 8.7 items).
Dr. Chow and colleagues disclosed that they had no relationships relevant to their study.
SOURCE: Akella K et al. CHEST 2019. Abstract, doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.201.
REPORTING FROM CHEST 2019