Abstract
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is a powerful methodology for improving clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction while reducing inefficiency and costs. However, most hospitals in low- and middle-income countries have little experience with CQI methods. Hospital infection prevention is an ideal model for nascent efforts to improve the quality of hospital care because of its proven efficacy in reducing the occurrence of infections that compromise patient outcomes and increase costs. This article describes the design and implementation of a demonstration project to reduce the incidence of surgical-site infections (SSIs) for hospitals with little experience with quality-improvement methods. The project has a high likelihood of producing measurable reductions in SSI rates and hospital costs related to inefficient use of perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis. Moreover, participating staff will gain experience that can be applied to efforts to improve the quality of other aspects of hospital care.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 125-135 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1998 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases