Patient Safety

- Surgical Care Improvement Project

Of the more than 42 million operations performed in the United States each year, up to 40 percent have associated postoperative complications, such as infection, thromboembolic events, respiratory complications and adverse cardiac events. These complications greatly impact patients and account for 2.4 million additional hospital stays and $9.3 billion in additional charges each year. A significant percentage of these complications are preventable.

SCIP is a national quality partnership of organizations committed to improving patient safety by reducing postoperative complications. The SCIP partnership seeks to substantially reduce surgical mortality and morbidity through collaborative efforts. The ultimate goal is to save lives by reducing the incidence of surgical complications by 25 percent by the year 2010. Hospitals that worked with the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC) saw a reduction in failure rate of 40.24 percent for the 8th SOW SCIP measures.

IFMC, in partnership with Iowa Healthcare Collaborative and Institute for Healthcare Improvement will continue to assist providers in improving surgical care through better adherence to evidence-based practice recommendations. IFMC will provide technical and professional assistance and support for hospitals participating in SCIP. IFMC will work actively with frontline staff in the operating room and holding area, PCAU, surgical intensive care unit and the various post-operative surgical floors.

Working with IFMC on SCIP will:
• Engage leadership and frontline staff
• Incorporate quality improvement into everyday practices
• Increase use of results (data) in performance improvement activities
• Evaluate current interventions and strategies

For more information on SCIP contact the Patient Safety Team at 1-800-383-2856.

Click here for SCIP Resources and Publications