FAST TRACKING IN PEDIATRIC CARDIAC ANESTHESIA - A QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE AT A TERTIARY CARDIAC CARE CENTER

Abstract

Objective: To determine the outcome of fast tracking patients after congenital cardiac surgery and to evaluate
the factors associated with delays in fast tracking and to identify the reasons for delays.

Study Design: Prospective descriptive cross-sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Department of Pediatric cardiac Anesthesiology
and PICU at AFIC-NIHD Rawalpindi from Jan 2015 to Jan 2016.

Material and Methods: A total of 172 patients were selected through non-probability consecutive sampling
over a period of 1 year i.e. from January 2015 to January 2016. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were
selected and they were grouped as fast tracked and non-fast tracked. Data collection tool was developed to
measure the demographics, clinical findings, complications and final outcome of patients who underwent
congenital cardiac surgery. Data entries were done on SPSS version-22 and on excel sheets. Root cause
analysis was done by applying statistical quality control tools.

Result: A total of 172 patients were enrolled in this study, this equates to around 15 patients per month.
Included children had a mean age of 4.3 ± 3.5 years and mean weight 14.24 ± 9.7 kg. 110 (64%) were male and
62 (36%) were females. Mean length of hospital stay was 13.98 ± 7.1 days and median P.ICU stay was 2.1 ±
2.75 days. 87 (50.6%) patients fast tracked successfully and remaining 85(49.4%) stayed overnight in PICU due
to some complications.

Conclusion: Fast tracking is feasible and beneficial in numerous studies, including ours. Fast tracked patients
ha...