Preventing complications one surgery at a time

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.- General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital recently joined the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program which gathers data related to surgery and complications after surgery.

This data compares hospitals from across the country, both civilian and DoD hospitals. It shows which hospitals experience little to no complications after surgery and gives others the chance to learn best practices and make improvements to their surgery procedures or postoperative care.

For the months of Jan. and Feb. orthopedics had a 100% surgery success rate according to NSQIP.

"The data from NSQIP shows our patients that the care they get here is comparable, if not better than the care they can get somewhere else," says Kristina Henry, GLWACH's NSQIP Coordinator.

Henry collects preoperative through 30-day postoperative data on surgical procedures at GLWACH. She inputs risk factors of the surgery, operating room reports, follow-ups and reported complications into the system and then generates a report which shows where we are doing great as well as where we can improve.

One of the most common occurrences after some has had a catheter is a Urinary Tract Infection. Henry looked at other hospitals data, found those who had low UTI rates and learned best practices from them. Now there is a UTI team made up of surgeons and other staff members that address the problem head on instead of waiting for a problem.

What this does for the patient is it can shorten the length of a hospital stay after surgery and reduces the risk of common complications. It also helps the surgeons and other medical staff learn ways to prevent complications and implement new practices for patient care. Emphasis is placed on surgical quality and providing the best possible surgical care and experience to our patients.

"We want our patients to be confident in the care they are getting here," Henry said.