As new technology dominates the headlines in the personalization of health care, allocating hospital resources and providing hospital standards are also an important part of moving health care into the future. The American College of Surgeons in collaboration with the Task Force for Children’s Surgical Care released its updated standards for 2016, Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care to do just that. The document is central to providing improved surgical care and customized attention children patients need. And with more than five million infants and children to undergo a surgical procedure in the U.S. annually, according to the same report, developing adequate surgical standards for children is a crucial goal.
“The vision is to see that every child receiving surgical care receives quality care in an environment with resources matched to his or her individualized needs,” said Keith Oldham, M.D., chair of the Children’s Surgery Verification Program, in a press release.
The new document is revised from 2014, and includes knowledge gained from the pilot phase of the ACS' new verification program that launched in April 2015. This includes a need for alternative training pathways for anesthesiology, emergency medicine and radiology. Also noted are the safety data elements required for all level designations.
For those hospitals looking to receive designation through the Children’s Surgery Verification Quality Improvement Program, a pre-review questionnaire application is expected to launch online later in the year. Designation will require the American College of Surgeons to periodically visit centers and ensure relevant standards are being met and quality improvement mechanisms in place.
