NPRQI is committed to helping health care providers meet compliance standards for patient safety, regardless of the evolving regulations. Our platform is designed to support EDs and healthcare facilities in complying with a range of patient safety measures, including federal, state, and industry-specific requirements. By offering data-driven tools and resources, NPRQI ensures that hospitals can continuously improve patient safety outcomes while meeting current pediatric readiness compliance standards.
CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM) requires hospitals to assess and report pediatric safety compliance, data sharing, and safety collaboratives.
Requirements and NPRQI Solutions
- Section 2(B): Disparities in Safety Outcomes
- Hospitals must use metrics to identify and address disparities in safety outcomes based on patient characteristics, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations, including pediatric patients.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI enables facilities to track and report on disparities in pediatric patient safety outcomes, ensuring hospitals can align their metrics to address the specific needs of pediatric populations.
- Section 3(E): Participation in Safety Collaboratives
- Hospitals must engage in large-scale learning networks for patient safety improvement, share data on safety events and outcomes with these networks, and implement at least one best practice derived from these collaboratives.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI supports hospitals in participating in pediatric-focused safety improvement collaboratives, such as national and state networks, providing tools to track shared data on pediatric safety events and outcomes. NPRQI also helps facilities implement evidence-based best practices from these collaboratives to improve pediatric trauma care.
Texas Trauma Rules
The new Texas Trauma Rules ensure top care for pediatric trauma patients, and NPRQI helps hospitals comply with tools for documentation, assessments, simulations, and imaging safety.
Requirements and NPRQI Solutions
- Pediatric Assessment & Documentation
- Section (D): Pediatric assessments must include the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), vital signs (temperature, heart rate, respirations, blood pressure), pain assessments, and weight in kilograms.
- Section (E): Serial vital signs, GCS, and pain assessments are required for high-level trauma activations or when shock, traumatic brain injury, or multi-system injuries are present.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI offers tools to streamline the documentation and monitoring of pediatric assessments, including automated tracking for vital signs, GCS, and pain assessments. This ensures compliance with the Texas Trauma Rules for pediatric trauma patients.
- Pediatric Imaging & Radiation Safety
- Section (F): Imaging guidelines must ensure that pediatric age or weight-based appropriate dosing for radiation studies is followed, in accordance with the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI provides decision-support tools and guidelines that help facilities align with ALARA principles in pediatric imaging. The platform tracks compliance with radiation safety standards, ensuring the lowest possible radiation exposure for pediatric patients.
- Pediatric Trauma Simulations
- Section (G): Hospitals must document pediatric trauma resuscitation simulations, with medical staff participation, every six months. These simulations must include critiques identifying areas for improvement and corrective actions, unless the facility meets exemption criteria (e.g., managing 200+ pediatric patients annually).
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI helps facilities meet the pediatric trauma simulation requirements by providing access to standardized, evidence-based simulations and tracking the completion of critiques. The platform ensures that all required actions for improvement are documented and integrated into performance improvement initiatives.
NPRP Assessment
The National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) Assessment outlines key quality improvement (QI) requirements for EDs to enhance pediatric patient care. NPRQI simplifies the process of meeting these requirements by providing data-driven tools and real-time insights that align with NPRP guidelines.
Requirements and NPRQI Solutions
- Physician and Nurse Coordinator for Pediatric Emergency Care
- NPRP requires EDs to have a designated Physician and Nurse Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC) to oversee pediatric care quality and readiness.
- NPRQI Solution: While NPRQI does not directly manage the appointment of PECCs, it supports their work by providing data, benchmarking insights, and evidence-based resources. This helps PECCs identify care gaps, track improvements, and align pediatric care practices with NPRP standards.
- Pediatric-Specific QI/PI Indicators
- NPRP calls for EDs to implement a pediatric-specific quality improvement and performance improvement (QI/PI) plan, including data collection, analysis, and system improvements.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI provides a centralized platform to collect, analyze, and act on pediatric safety and clinical care data. Through customizable dashboards and real-time metrics, NPRQI helps EDs measure progress, identify disparities, and implement targeted improvements to meet NPRP’s QI/PI standards.
- Pediatric Competency and Training
- Healthcare providers must complete regular pediatric-specific competency evaluations covering resuscitation, trauma care, medication administration, and more.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI helps EDs assess and improve pediatric competency by providing data-driven insights and benchmarking tools. By highlighting gaps in care and comparing performance to state and national benchmarks, NPRQI enables EDs to target training needs and enhance staff readiness.
- Policies, Procedures, and Protocols
- NPRP emphasizes the need for pediatric-specific protocols, including triage, medication safety, and family-centered care.
- NPRQI Solution: NPRQI helps EDs assess and improve pediatric competency by providing data-driven insights and benchmarking tools. By highlighting gaps in care and comparing performance to state and national benchmarks, NPRQI enables EDs to target training needs and enhance staff readiness.