What follows is an abridged version of the original article. The full version of the article can be found atwww.aqihq.org/startingqualitymanagementprogram.aspx.
An anesthesia information management system (AIMS) offers great potential benefit to physician anesthesiologists and their patients. An ideal AIMS will result in an accurate, legible electronic record of anesthesia care that is easier to use and less distracting than paper documentation. An AIMS should facilitate electronic billing for anesthesia services and produce clinical data within a system that allows effective data use for a wide variety of purposes: quality improvement, risk management, clinical research, administrative management, regulatory compliance, and reporting to federal and state quality reporting programs as well as clinical data registries.1
However, fulfilling the potential of the ideal AIMS depends largely on the quality of its implementation as well as on the resources and supporting structures in place within the enterprise.
The decision to implement...