Surgical Infection Prevention Project Example

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Each year, more than 4,500 patients receive inpatient surgeries at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center (PSJMC). Approximately 1,000 of these patients meet the criteria established by the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) guidelines to discontinue antibiotics within 24 hours after surgery end time. SCIP was undertaken to decrease morbidity and mortality associated with postoperative infections in surgical patients, and provides national, evidence-based recommendations.

The recommendation to discontinue antibiotics is the third quality measure of the SCIP index and is known as SCIP 3. PSJMC’s compliance with SCIP 3 had remained persistently low at approximately 36 percent – the hospital’s poorest compliance with any national clinical quality recommendation. In August 2006, PSJMC launched a Six Sigma project to address the problem.

Author, Imran Chaudhry is regional director of Operational Excellence for the PH&S California region and is a certified Master Black Belt. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s in engineering from the University of Southern California and an executive business management degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

The following individuals also contributed to the PSJMC project: .

Sharon Gerson, RN; Bernie Klein, M.D.; Teresa Lee-Yu; Andrew Renner, M.D.; Ray Schaerf, M.D.; Alex Tovar, M.D.; Cheryl Cook; Diane Voss; Kathy Morreale; Nancy Loporchio; Cyndie Ludwig; Trish Casquilho; and Avo Manukyan.