Completion of postoperative polysomnography for children with severe obstructive sleep apnea: A quality improvement project

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are at risk for residual OSA following tonsillectomy with/without adenoidectomy (T ± A). We initiated a quality improvement (QI) project to increase the percentage of postoperative (postop) polysomnography (PSG) completion to identify residual OSA. METHODS: This is a prospective QI project carried out at a tertiary pediatric academic hospital. Children ≤18 years of age who underwent T ± A for severe OSA were included. Our Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time‐based (SMART) aim was to increase the percentage of completed postop PSGs in this cohort from a baseline of 70% to95% by May 31, 2021. We focused on patient education and leveraged both clinical decision support and reporting functionalities of the electronic medical record for project implementation. RESULTS: During the pre‐intervention period between January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, 472 patients met the inclusion criteria with an average age of 8.6 years (SD 4.6). The rate of postop PSG completion was 69.7% (SD 11.4%) with an average time of 99 days (SD 66) between surgery and the postop PSG. A shift was observed starting in September 2020, and the PSG completion rate improved to 94.9% by September 30, 2021. Post‐intervention, there were 178 patients with an average age of 9.3 years (SD 4.9). The average time between surgery and the postop PSG was significantly reduced to 57 days (SD 16; p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Through a multidisciplinary approach, we successfully completed our SMART aim. With the establishment of QI infrastructure, our goal is to deliver better care in a sustainable fashion using QI methodology.