Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP)

SCIP: A Partnership for Better Care

The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) is a national quality partnership of organizations com­mitted to improving the safety of surgical care through the reduction of postoperative complications. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to save lives by reducing the incidence of surgical complications by 25 percent by the year 2010.

Partners in SCIP believe that a meaningful reduction in complications requires that surgeons, anesthesiologists, preoperative nurses, pharmacists, infection control professionals and hospital executives work together to make surgical care improvement a priority.

Although some surgical complications are unavoidable, surgical care can be improved through better adherence to evidence-based practice recommendations and by giving more attention to designing systems of care with redundant safeguards.

The SCIP partnership seeks to substantially reduce surgical mortality and morbidity through collaborative efforts. Come join us in saving lives and improving patient care!

What is at Stake for the Public’s Health

Research shows that a significant percentage of the nearly 30 million operations performed in the United States each year results in preventable, often life threatening complications. The Institute of Medicine, in its groundbreaking report To Err Is Human, highlighted a study of more than 44,000 operations at a large medical center from 1977 to 1990. It revealed that 5.4 percent (more than 2,400 patients) suffered complica­tions, nearly half of them attributable to error.

A 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that postoperative compli­cations accounted for up to 22 percent of preventable deaths among patients, depending on the complica­tion. The same study looked at 18 types of medical injuries during hospitalization and found those events accounted for 2.4 million additional hospital days and $9.3 billion in additional charges each year.

SCIP Process and Outcome Measures

Infection

• SCIP INF 1: Prophylactic antibiotic received within one hour prior to surgical incision
• SCIP INF 2: Prophylactic antibiotic selection for surgical patients
• SCIP INF 3: Prophylactic antibiotics discontinued within 24 hours after surgery end
• SCIP INF 4: Cardiac surgery patients with controlled 6 a.m. postoperative blood glucose
• SCIP INF 6: Surgery patients with appropriate hair removal
• SCIP INF 7: Colorectal surgery patients with immediate postoperative normothermia
• SCIP CARD 2: Surgery patients on beta-blocker therapy prior to arrival who received a beta-blocker during the perioperative period

VTE

• SCIP VTE 1: Surgery patients with recommended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis ordered
• SCIP VTE 2: Surgery patients who received appropriate venous thromboembolism prophylaxis within 24 hours prior to surgery to 24 hours after surgery

Great 8+ QIO Teleconferences

02/09/10: Improving Outcomes: Use of ACE-Is and ARBs in Heart Failure and Surgical Care Presented by Nancy Friedley, MD, MS, CMD, Delmarva Foundation, District of Columbia

WebEx recording | PowerPoint handouts

11/18/09: SCIP Today & SCIP Tomorrow: Looking Ahead to 2010 Presented by Dr. Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality WebEx recording/ PowerPoint handouts

WebEx recording | PowerPoint handouts

09/10/09: SCIP- Beta Blockers Prior to Surgery Presented by Dr. Lee Fleisher, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

WebEx recording | PowerPoint handouts

02/19/09: SCIP- Patient Safety and the Surgical Care Improvement Project
Presented by Dr. Dale Bratzler, DO MPH, Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality

WebEx recording | PowerPoint handouts

01/08/09: SCIP - Antibiotic Use and Controversy
Presented by Dr. Robert Brooks, Delmarva QIO

WebEx recording | PowerPoint handouts

National Patient Safety Teleconferences

04/15/09: CMS National Patient Safety Initiative for Surgical Care and Heart Failure: Ongoing Opportunities for Improvement
Presented by Dr. Dale Bratzler, DO MPH, Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality

QualityNet 

World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist resources and links from IHI:

• A growing list of Surgical Safety Checklist Mentor Hospitals willing to offer advice on both testing and implementation
• Adaptations of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist.