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Quality Improvement

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network logo

WHAT'S NEW?

2023-24 Surgical Quality Improvement Campaign

Hospitals are coming together to improve surgical recovery with a focus on environmental sustainability. The new campaign Cut the Carbon: Reducing Surgical Waste aims to enhance patient care, support pandemic recovery efforts, and promote sustainable healthcare solutions.

Learn More

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@ontariohealth.ca.

 

Tools and Resources

Participating Hospitals

Location

Cambridge Memorial Hospital

Cambridge

Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Ottawa

Collingwood General and Marine Hospital

Collingwood

Cornwall Community Hospital

Cornwall

Grand River Hospital, Kitchener Waterloo Campus

Kitchener

Grey Bruce Health Services

Owen Sound

Halton Healthcare, Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital

Oakville

Hamilton Health Sciences, Juravinski Hospital

Hamilton

Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster Children’s Hospital

Hamilton

The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids)

Toronto

Humber River Hospital

Toronto

Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston General Hospital

Kingston

Lakeridge Health, Oshawa Hospital

Oshawa

London Health Sciences Centre, Children’s Hospital

London

London Health Sciences Centre, University Hospital

London

London Health Sciences Centre, Victoria Hospital

London

Mackenzie Health

Richmond Hill

Michael Garron Hospital

East York

Hôpital Montfort

Ottawa

Niagara Health System, St. Catharine’s Site

St. Catharine’s

North Bay Regional Health Centre

North Bay

North York General Hospital

North York

Oak Valley Health, Markham Stouffville Hospital

Markham

Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital

Orillia

Quinte Heath Care

Belleville

The Ottawa Hospital

Ottawa

Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga Hospital

Mississauga

Pembroke Regional Hospital

Pembroke

Queensway Carleton Hospital

Ottawa

Renfrew Victoria Hospital

Renfrew

Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre

Barrie

Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital

Scarborough

Scarborough Health Network, General Hospital

Scarborough

Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Hospital

Toronto

Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Care

Sioux Lookout

Southlake Regional Health Centre

Newmarket

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Toronto

St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

Hamilton

Unity Health, St. Joseph’s Health Centre Toronto

Toronto

Unity Health, St. Michael’s Hospital

Toronto

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

Thunder Bay

University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital

Toronto

University Health Network, Toronto Western Hospital

Toronto

William Osler Health Centre, Brampton Civic Hospital

Brampton

William Osler Health Centre, Etobicoke General Hospital

Etobicoke

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@ontariohealth.ca.

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.

Ontario Surgical Quality Improvement Network logo

SUBMIT HERE

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@ontariohealth.ca.

Members of NSQIP-ON can login here.


Login

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
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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
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