Abstract

Background Quality assurance and performance improvement have become mainstream initiatives for healthcare practitioners across the globe. Smartphones and other portable devices have been instrumental in providing a platform to improve quality monitoring workflows and increase the efficiency of performance processes. An existing indwelling catheter auditing practice represents an opportune setting to implement automation, improve timeliness, and promote enhanced visualization and reporting. Methods A novel smartphone application was developed to replace an existing, paper-to-computer based, auditing workflow using existing in-house technology. This application collected pertinent visual and documentation quality metrics at the patient level using an anonymous identifier. Infection Preventionists were automatically provided a daily list of active indwelling devices and audits were then performed and submitted. Data was collected in a central repository and automatically configured using an electronic visualization tool. Results Since implementation, 1522 central line (CL) and 1484 urinary catheter (UC) audits have been performed at two sites participating as part of a large multi-site healthcare system. The specificity of the observations was stratified down to 18 unique departments. Deviations from expected quality measures were used to develop an individual score for each metric (11 CL and 9 UC). An overall performance score was also accessible for individual patients for investigations related to device-associated infections. Within each visualization, the capability was provided to drill-down to the department level for appropriately tailored stratification scores. Time frames were also enabled to specifically address the reporting period. Present findings suggest an 88% and 94% quality compliance rate for CL and UC, respectively. Conclusions It has been demonstrated that the use of technology to streamline quality monitoring is feasible and a vital component of performance improvement. This robust collection represents an ideal sample to promote interventions and educational initiatives which are specifically designed to target evidence-based quality deviations and improve patient outcomes. Quality assurance and performance improvement have become mainstream initiatives for healthcare practitioners across the globe. Smartphones and other portable devices have been instrumental in providing a platform to improve quality monitoring workflows and increase the efficiency of performance processes. An existing indwelling catheter auditing practice represents an opportune setting to implement automation, improve timeliness, and promote enhanced visualization and reporting. A novel smartphone application was developed to replace an existing, paper-to-computer based, auditing workflow using existing in-house technology. This application collected pertinent visual and documentation quality metrics at the patient level using an anonymous identifier. Infection Preventionists were automatically provided a daily list of active indwelling devices and audits were then performed and submitted. Data was collected in a central repository and automatically configured using an electronic visualization tool. Since implementation, 1522 central line (CL) and 1484 urinary catheter (UC) audits have been performed at two sites participating as part of a large multi-site healthcare system. The specificity of the observations was stratified down to 18 unique departments. Deviations from expected quality measures were used to develop an individual score for each metric (11 CL and 9 UC). An overall performance score was also accessible for individual patients for investigations related to device-associated infections. Within each visualization, the capability was provided to drill-down to the department level for appropriately tailored stratification scores. Time frames were also enabled to specifically address the reporting period. Present findings suggest an 88% and 94% quality compliance rate for CL and UC, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the use of technology to streamline quality monitoring is feasible and a vital component of performance improvement. This robust collection represents an ideal sample to promote interventions and educational initiatives which are specifically designed to target evidence-based quality deviations and improve patient outcomes.

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