A comparison of two quality measurement tools in pediatric surgery--the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric versus the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Pediatric Quality Indicators.

Background/purpose: Identifying quality in pediatric surgery can be difficult given the low frequency of postoperative complications. We compared postoperative events following pediatric surgical procedures at a single institution identified by ACS-NSQIP Pediatric (ACS NSQIP-P) methodology and AHRQ Pediatric Quality Indicators (AHRQ PDIs), an administrative tool.

Methods: AHRQ PDI algorithms were run on inpatient hospital discharge abstracts for 1257 children in the 2010 to 2013 ACS NSQIP-P at our institution.