Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network

WHAT'S NEW?

2021-22 Surgical Quality Improvement Campaign

Hospitals are coming together to enhance patient care, support pandemic recovery and ease the surgical backlog in Ontario. Enhancing Surgical Recovery aims to improve care before, during and after surgery — so patients feel better faster and can get back to their daily lives.

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The Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network (ON-SQIN) is a Community of Practice that brings together surgical teams from all hospitals and specialties across the province.

Members connect regularly via educational webinars, meetings and the annual Ontario Surgical Quality Conference, and identify opportunities to improve surgical care quality using clinical data collected through the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP).

Dr. Timothy Jackson is Health Quality Ontario’s Provincial Surgical Lead.

For information on joining the Community of Practice, please email ONSQIN@hqontario.ca.

Tools and Resources

Get the latest news and updates

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Winter 2021 Update

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Fall 2020 Update

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Winter 2020 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Fall 2019 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Summer 2019 Newsletter

Committed to Better: Reducing Infections After Surgery campaign results

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Spring 2019 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Winter 2019 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Fall 2018 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Summer 2018 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Spring 2018 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Winter 2018 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Fall 2017 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Summer 2017 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Spring 2017 Newsletter

Improving Surgical Care in Ontario

Ontario hospitals are sharing data to improve surgical outcomes

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network – Winter 2017 Newsletter

Innovate Surgical Quality Improvement Network Spreads across Ontario

University Health Network’s approach to reducing surgical site infections

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network - June 2016 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network - August 2016 Newsletter

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network - October 2016 Newsletter

Participating Hospitals

Participating Hospitals	Location	LHIN
Cambridge Memorial Hospital	Cambridge	Waterloo Wellington
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario	Ottawa	Champlain
Collingwood General and Marine Hospital	Collingwood	North Simcoe Muskoka
Cornwall Community Hospital	Cornwall	Champlain
Grand River Hospital, Kitchener Waterloo Campus	Kitchener	Waterloo Wellington
Grey Bruce Health Services	Owen Sound	South West
Halton Healthcare, Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital	Oakville	Mississauga Halton
Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton General Hospital	Hamilton	Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
Hamilton Health Sciences, Juravinski Hospital	Hamilton	Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
L’Hôpital Montfort	Ottawa	Champlain
Humber River Hospital	Toronto	Central
Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston General Hospital	Kingston	South East
Lakeridge Health, Oshawa Hospital	Oshawa	Central East
London Health Sciences Centre, Children’s Hospital	London	South West
London Health Sciences Centre, University Hospital	London	South West
London Health Sciences Centre, Victoria Hospital	London	South West
Mackenzie Health	Richmond Hill	Central
Markham Stouffville Hospital Corporation, Markham Stouffville Hospital	Markham	Central
McMaster Children’s Hospital (Hamilton Health Sciences)	Hamilton	Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
Michael Garron Hospital	East York	Toronto Central
Niagara Health System, St. Catharine’s Site	St. Catharine’s	Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
North Bay Regional Health Centre	North Bay	North East
North York General Hospital	North York	Central
Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital	Orillia	North Simcoe Muskoka
Pembroke Regional Hospital	Pembroke	Champlain
Peterborough Regional Health Centre	Peterborough	Central East
Queensway Carleton Hospital	Ottawa	Champlain
Quinte Health Care	Belleville	South East
Renfrew Victoria Hospital	Renfrew	Champlain
Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Hospital	Toronto	Toronto Central
Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Care	Sioux Lookout	North West
Southlake Regional Health Centre	Newmarket	Central
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre	Toronto	Toronto Central
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
St. Joseph’s Health Centre Toronto	Toronto	Toronto Central
St. Michael’s Hospital	Toronto	Toronto Central
The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids)	Toronto	Toronto Central
The Ottawa Hospital	Ottawa	Champlain
The Scarborough Hospital	Scarborough	Central East
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre	Thunder Bay	North West
Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga Hospital	Mississauga	Mississauga Halton
University Health Network, Princess Margaret Hospital	Toronto	Toronto Central
University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital	Toronto	Toronto Central
University Health Network, Toronto Western Hospital	Toronto	Toronto Central
William Osler Health Centre, Brampton Civic Hospital	Brampton	Central West
William Osler Health Centre, Etobicoke General Hospital	Etobicoke	Central West

American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program^® (ACS NSQIP^®) is a leading validated, risk-adjusted, outcomes-based program to measure and drive improvements in surgical care. For each year of participation in ACS NSQIP, a hospital has, on average, the opportunity to:

prevent 250–500 complications
save 12–36 lives
reduce health care costs by millions of dollars

Ontario hospitals that participate in ACS NSQIP through the Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network are part of the Ontario collaborative of ACS NSQIP called “NSQIP-ON.” Participating surgical teams have access to high-quality clinical data that can be accurately compared against data at the local, provincial, national and international levels. This allows providers to benchmark top performers, and can be used to identify areas for improvement and track progress.

ACS NSQIP data are:

Not administrative: data are taken from the patient’s medical chart, with identifying factors removed
Risk-adjusted:ACS NSQIP lets you compare apples to apples. For example, caring for a chronically ill 75-year-old is very different from treating a healthy 21-year-old, and quality measures should take these differences into account
Case mix–adjusted: ACS NSQIP accounts for the complexity of operations performed, allowing for more accurate benchmarking
Based on 30-day patient outcomes:Studies show half or more of all complications occur after the patient leaves the hospital, often leading to costly readmissions. ACS NSQIP tracks patients for 30 days after their operation, providing a more complete picture of their care

Improvement in surgical care has benefits for:

Patients, who experience fewer complications and better outcomes, shorter hospital stays and improved satisfaction
Surgeons and surgical teams, who receive robust reports that provide performance information to guide surgical care and identify areas for improvement
Hospitals, which sustain reduced disparities of care and improved patient outcomes and realize lower costs of care, through avoidance of complications

To learn more about ACS NSQIP visit https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/acs-nsqip

To learn more about the Ontario collaborative of ACS NSQIP (NSQIP-ON), please email ONSQIN@hqontario.ca.

Surgical Quality Improvement Plans

As one of the first steps in their quality improvement journeys, Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network members review their ACS NSQIP data to identify areas for improvement and strategize a plan to address those issues. Surgical Quality Improvement Plans (SQIPs) are a tool used to help teams leverage their data to create actionable ideas and goals.

Surgical Quality Improvement Plans were adapted from the provincially mandated Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs), and serve as blueprints for how a surgical team will strive to improve quality at their hospital. A SQIP is a programmatic QIP designed to help Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network members:

identify areas for improvement (using their ACS NSQIP data)
implement evidence-based quality improvement initiatives and change ideas
track data, process measures and outcomes to determine the effects of their quality improvement activities and change ideas

Submit your SQIP using the SQIP Navigator online tool.

SUBMIT HERE

Surgical Care Safety

Find out more about best practices in surgical care and resources available to inform your work in surgical quality improvement.

Learn more

Quality Improvement Resources

Additional Online Resources

Community of Practice

Access the Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network community. Learn, share and innovate with others committed to improving the quality of surgical care in Ontario.

If you have questions, please contact ONSQIN@hqontario.ca.

Members of NSQIP-ON can login here.

IMPROVING SURGICAL CARE IN ONTARIO

This report captures highlights from Health Quality Ontario’s evaluation of the first 18 months of the program and the work accomplished by members of the Ontario Surgical Network during this time.

Read the Report

Clinician administers anesthesia to surgical patient

Report on Surgical Quality in Ontario

Quality Surgery: How an international quality improvement program is helping various hospitals in Ontario make surgeries safer.

Click here to read our blog.

Read the report

A man wearing a turban standing outside a hospital

Ontario Surgical Quality Conference

An annual professional forum providing the opportunity to connect and learn with colleagues who share a commitment to surgical quality. Discover how collaborative teamwork, data and quality improvement can drive change.

Learn more

Quality Improvement