How do we find out these standards

How Do We Find Out These Standards Donald C. Tyler, MD, MBA Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA 19104 As part of the push to improve the quality of healthcare, multiple organizations have developed guidelines or standards concerning different aspects of medical care. These guidelines and standards recommend various practices, with the assumption that if these practices are followed, then quality care is being delivered. Examples of these standards are antibiotics within one hour of incision and maximum barrier precautions for CVP lines. The standards publishers include professional organizations, governmental organizations, business (payors), insurers, and private organizations including the Joint Commission. For Pediatric Anesthesia very few of these standards apply to our day to day work. In this presentation I will discuss some of the major standards publishers and comment on their pronouncements. Finally I will make some suggestions on how we (the ones taking care of the patients) should proceed. Professional Organizations ASA: The ASA has published Standards and Guidelines, but most recommend general approaches to care and deal with our standard practices such as monitoring standards, labeling of pharmaceuticals, etc. Some others are in support of current billing practices. The ASA also has a Statement on Pediatric Anesthesia, which deals mostly with ...