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Mayo Clinic Children’s Center achieves recognition for quality surgical care
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Mayo Clinic Children’s Center has been verified as a Level 1 Children's Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons Children's Surgery Verification Quality Improvement Program (ACS CSV).
The ACS CSV program was developed to improve the quality of children's surgical care by creating a system that allows for a prospective match of every child's individual surgical needs with a care environment that has optimal pediatric resources. Verified centers must meet criteria outlined in CSV standards by ensuring that children facing surgery receive care under a multidisciplinary program with quality improvement and safety processes, data collection and appropriate resources provided to them as patients at the hospital.
The CSV program is based on other nationally recognized American College of Surgeons quality improvement programs that have measurably improved surgical quality, prevented complications, reduced costs and saved lives.
"Every day, our team at the Mayo Clinic Children's Center provides the highest quality care to pediatric patients suffering the most complex and heart-wrenching illnesses, from congenital anomalies to pediatric oncology," says Randall Flick, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "We are incredibly proud of the ACS's verification of our team's hard work transforming children's lives and operating at the forefront of healthcare's capability."
Mayo Clinic Children's Center's commitment to quality care begins with appropriately trained staff and leadership from surgeons who participate in meetings throughout the year to review the center's surgical outcomes. The surgical team seeks continuous improvement to enhance the structure, process and outcomes of the center.
To become a verified center, Mayo Clinic Children's Center met essential criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure, and protocols for care, ensuring its ability to appropriately care for children who are surgical patients. The center also participates in a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of its processes and outcomes, thus identifying opportunities for continuous quality improvement.
"The American College of Surgeons sets a very high standard for quality and organization of their surgical programs," says D. Dean Potter Jr., M.D., a pediatric surgeon who led Mayo Clinic Children's Center's efforts to achieve ACS CSV verification. "The verification is not about meeting common standards for care. It's about demonstrating how we work as a multidisciplinary team to provide the highest quality of care and continually improve as healthcare evolves. Our teams are filled with joy at this recognition of the hard work they do each day."
After submitting an application, centers seeking verification undergo an extensive site visit by an ACS team of surveyors. The surveyor teams consist of experienced children's surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses who review the center's structure, process and clinical outcomes data. The current Optimal Resources for Children's Surgical Care manual drives the application and is used as a guideline in conducting the survey.
"Receiving the verification justifies and recognizes all the work that everyone does," says Lindsay Warner, M.D., director of Performance Improvement and Patient Safety for the Pediatric Surgical Practice. "It allows us to share with everyone what we've always known: that Mayo Clinic Children's Center provides the highest quality care — and is an incredibly special place — for our smallest patients."
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