RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Utility of the Vascular Quality Initiative in improving quality of care in Canadian patients undergoing vascular surgery
JF Canadian Journal of Surgery
JO CAN J SURG
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 66
OP 69
DO 10.1503/cjs.002218
VO 62
IS 1
A1 Elizabeth Liao
A1 Naomi Eisenberg
A1 Anish Kaushal
A1 Janice Montbriand
A1 Kong-Teng Tan
A1 Graham Roche-Nagle
YR 2019
UL http://canjsurg.ca/content/62/1/66.abstract
AB The Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) is a national cooperative quality-improvement initiative designed to evaluate processes of care and outcomes in vascular surgery. The purpose of this report is to show the utility of such a database to provide insight into the standard of care provided, to highlight areas of local quality improvement, to benchmark our data against local, regional and national trends, and to ultimately improve safety in Canadian patients undergoing vascular surgery. We present the history of the database, its spread in the Canadian health care system and examples of quality improvements achieved from analyses of data recorded and retrieved from the VQI. Using the VQI, our institution was able to decrease the length of stay after endovascular aneurysm repair, decrease the contrast volume in endovascular aneurysm repair, save on costs, and provide medium-term outcome data on peripheral vascular interventions and smoking cessation strategies. The VQI is a powerful tool to improve patient safety and quality in vascular surgery. Its ability to create local regional improvement groups fosters a quality-focused culture and is important for Canadian patients.