Developing quality indicators for elderly patients undergoing abdominal operations.

BACKGROUND: Although the expanding and aging population will likely increase demand for surgical services, surgeons and other providers must develop strategies to optimize care. We sought to develop process-based quality indicators for elderly patients undergoing abdominal operations to identify necessary and meaningful ways to improve care in this cohort. STUDY
DESIGN: Through structured interviews with thought leaders and systematic reviews of the literature, we identified candidate quality indicators addressing perioperative care in elderly patients undergoing abdominal operations. Using a modification of the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Methodology, an expert panel of physicians in surgery, geriatrics, anesthesia, internal, and rehabilitation medicine formally rated and discussed the indicators.
RESULTS: Eighty-nine candidate indicators were identified and categorized into seven domains: comorbidity assessment (eg, cardiopulmonary disease), elderly issues (eg, cognition), medication use (eg, polypharmacy), patient-to-provider discussions (eg, life-sustaining preferences), intraoperative care (eg, preventing hypothermia), postoperative management (eg, preventing delirium), and discharge planning (eg, home health care). Of the 89 candidate indicators, 76 were rated as valid by the expert panel. Importantly, the majority of indicators rated as valid address processes of care not routinely performed in younger surgical populations.
CONCLUSIONS: Attention to the quality of surgical care in elderly patients is of great importance because of the increasing numbers of elderly undergoing operations. This project used a validated methodology to identify and rate process measures to achieve high-quality perioperative care for elderly surgical patients. This is the first time quality indicators have been developed in this regard.