Surgical Infection Prevention: Success Stories KANSAS Collaborative Efforts Result in Decreased Surgical Infections in Kansas Teams from 13 hospitals in Kansas impacted nearly 2,000 surgical cases and showed striking results during the first five months of participation in the Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative with the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (KFMC). All indicators displayed a notable trend of improving medians or averages from January 2003 to July 2003. All indicators also demonstrated greatly decreased variability, the difference between best practice hospitals and others, during the project. Hospital teams, meeting as a collaborative, worked together to improve prevention of surgical infections for orthopedic, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular surgical cases. Team members studied, tested, and implemented the latest knowledge available to produce rapid improvements in their organizations. The result: improved care that can save lives. The teams made significant progress, including: Increasing from 86% to 96% the proportion of surgical patients receiving appropriate prophylactic antibiotics Increasing from 67% to 85% the proportion of surgical patients receiving prophylactic antibiotic within one hour prior to surgical incision Increasing from 59% to 85% the proportion of surgical patients with prophylactic antibiotics discontinued within 24 hours after surgery end time The initiative was the first statewide collaborative of its kind facilitated by KFMC, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Kansas, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. KFMC is continuing to assist hospitals improve quality of care. For more information, contact Lisa Williams, Director of Communications, at 1-(800) 432-0770 or lwilliams@ksqio.sdps.org. This material was prepared by the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc., the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Kansas, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents do not necessarily reflect CMS policy.

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