Quality Improvement in Pediatric Urology

Over the past several years, there has been an increasing focus on quality improvement and patient safety in surgical disciplines, including pediatric urology. Recent research on quality improvement has focused not only on improving care delivery at a local level but also on national databases such as the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). Within this framework, quality improvement may address outcome improvement through the creation of protocols, pathways, patient registries or multi-institutional collaboration to continuously improve patient care and safety. Recent quality improvement initiatives within pediatric urology include optimization of care for diagnoses such as hydronephrosis, spina bifida, testicular torsion, nephrolithiasis and hypospadias.

There has been much interest in improving the quality of care in pediatric urology. Pediatric urologists are well suited to pursue quality improvement for outpatient clinic encounters, perioperative care in pediatric ambulatory surgery, as well as inpatient robotic and open procedures. The purpose of this article collection is to highlight the various approaches utilized by pediatric urologists to improve care delivery, and patient outcomes.

The following themes will be explored:

1. Institutional or multi-institutional initiatives that seek to improve pediatric urology patient outcomes.

2. Creation or validation of standardized pathways or protocols for common pediatric urology conditions.

3. Evaluation of healthcare-related quality of life for pediatric urology patients.

4. Streamlining processes within the perioperative environment.

Rebecca S. Zee is an assistant professor of surgery in the division of urology at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She completed her fellowship in pediatric urology at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Her research interests include enhanced recovery after surgery, hypospadias repair, and testicular torsion. She is also co-chair of the Societies for Pediatric Urology prenatal hydronephrosis task force.

Keywords: Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, Pediatric Urology, Healthcare related quality of life, Root cause analysis

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