The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Programme, ACS NSQIP, has recognised Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, SKMC, as one of the programme's 88 participating hospitals that have achieved meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2018, and the only one outside the USA.

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, SKMC is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that assesses patient safety and can be used to direct improvement in the quality of surgical care. Sheikh Khalifa Medical City is one of Abu Dhabi Health Services Company’s healthcare facilities.

The ACS NSQIP recognition programme commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score in either an "All Cases" category or a category which includes only "High Risk" cases. Risk-adjusted data from the July 2019 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2018 calendar year, were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes. SKMC has been recognised on both the "All Cases" and "High Risk" meritorious lists.

Each composite score was determined through a different weighted formula combining eight outcomes. The outcome performances related to patient management were in the following eight clinical areas: mortality, unplanned intubation, ventilator > 48 hours, renal failure, cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction); respiratory (pneumonia); SSI (surgical site infections-superficial and deep incisional and organ-space SSIs); or urinary tract infection.

The 88 commended hospitals achieved the distinction based on their outstanding composite quality score across the eight areas listed above. 72 hospitals were recognised on the "All Cases" list and 72 hospitals were recognised on the "High Risk" list; the 72 hospitals represent ten percent of the 722 calendar-year 2018 ACS NSQIP hospitals. SKMC was among the 56 hospitals that were acknowledged on both the "All Cases" and "High Risk" lists.

"We are truly honoured to receive this significant international recognition," said Dr. Mariam Buti Al Mazrouie, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City CEO. "It is a tribute to our entire staff's commitment to safe and quality care for our patients each and every day. As one of Abu Dhabi most prestigious healthcare facilities, it is our ultimate goal to provide the highest quality surgical care with the most promising outcomes for our patients."

"This accomplishment is a direct reflection of the experience, skills and devotion of every member of the SKMC team," said Dr. Nawal Al Kaabi, CMO of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City. "I am particularly proud of our caregivers who provide the highest quality of care for the most complex surgical cases in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. This recognition reflects the collaborated efforts of our dedicated caregivers in all different specialties."

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement programme that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. The programme measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the "best scientific evidence" to the practice of surgery.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organisation of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery, has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organisation of surgeons in the world.

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