Quality Assurance & Continuous Improvement Flashcards
7 cards from real ABA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Quality Assurance & Continuous Improvement flashcards as text
In anesthesia quality programs, 'balanced scorecard' typically includes which four perspectives?
Answer: Financial, Customer, Internal Process, Learning & Growth
Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard framework measures performance across financial, customer, internal process, and learning dimensions.
Which of the following is an example of a PROCESS measure (rather than an outcome measure) in anesthesia QI?
Answer: Percentage of high-risk patients receiving TIVA per protocol
Process measures capture whether evidence-based care steps were performed, whereas outcome measures capture what happened to the patient.
A 'near-miss' reporting system in anesthesia departments is valuable primarily because:
Answer: They reveal latent system vulnerabilities before harm occurs
Near-misses expose hazardous conditions and system weaknesses while there is still opportunity to prevent patient harm.
The ASA Closed Claims Project has contributed to anesthesia safety improvement primarily by:
Answer: Identifying patterns in malpractice claims to guide preventive strategies
Analysis of closed malpractice claims revealed common mechanisms of injury, leading to targeted safety improvements such as pulse oximetry adoption.
When a QI team applies 'small tests of change,' they are using which principle?
Answer: Rapid cycle improvement with PDSA
PDSA rapid cycles test changes on a small scale before broader implementation, minimizing risk and accelerating learning.
A hospital's anesthesia department implements a mandatory time-out checklist before every case. This is BEST categorized as:
Answer: A process-based safety intervention
Checklists are process interventions designed to ensure critical care steps are consistently performed, reducing errors of omission.
The primary purpose of morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences in anesthesia is to:
Answer: Educate and identify systemic factors contributing to adverse outcomes
M&M conferences aim to foster learning from adverse events by identifying system vulnerabilities in a non-punitive educational environment.