Quality management in the cardiac catheterization laboratory

The development of quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI) initiatives have paralleled the expansion and proliferation of cardiac catherization laboratories. Quality cardiovascular care aims to deliver high standards for patient safety by developing processes and systems to optimize patient-team interactions. Quality can be assessed at the individual operator, team, program, facility or system level. Cardiovascular societies and organizations have developed national registries to help institutions benchmark their process and outcomes against national standards. Various quality measurement techniques are available to assess current performance and identify opportunities for improvement. Appropriate use criteria (AUC) for revascularization were implemented to serve as a QA measure to examine the use of medical procedures. In today's value-based payment systems-focused healthcare climate, quality metrics are followed closely by many payors. In this review, the framework for quality in the cardiac catheterization laboratory and tools to achieve continuous quality improvement (CQI) are discussed.