ACS VERIFICATION PROCESS
What is it?
The Task Force for Children’s Surgical Care, a collaborative working group supported by the Children’s Hospital Association and the American College of Surgeon’s, was created in early 2012 to establish recommendations aimed at aligning the individual needs of the nation’s children and the resources available to treat them. The goal of verification is to guide and align the care of the children such that every child is cared for at the best institution, at the best time and in the best circumstance for them. The recommendations have been published (J Am Coll Surg. 2014; 218(3):479-87) and layed the groundwork for the Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care 2015, an ACS-supported guide for centers that care for children’s surgical needs. This guide outlines the resource standards, quality-improvement and safety processes, data collection and verification process. These standards have been supported by the American Pediatric Surgical Association and the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia, and are the nation’s first and only multispecialty standards for children’s surgical care.
Find out more information. If your organization is interested in becoming verified or has questions regarding the program, contact the Children’s Surgery Team.
Why should your site be involved?
An important part of optimal care is the iterative approach to process and quality improvement. Trauma centers have lead the field over the past 2-3 decades with continuous data collection, evaluation of outcomes and processes improvement initiatives that have demonstrably improved outcome after traumatic injury throughout the nation. Performance Improvement and Patient Safety (PIPS) programs are charged with guiding this endeavor at the local level. It is recommended that all Level I and Level II centers for children’s’ surgical care have PIPS programs. It is in this way—with active involvement and efforts to improve our systems, processes, and outcomes—that we can assure the best care for our children, and our children’s children, with surgical needs.