CIR Quality Improvement & Patient Safety Flashcards
6 cards from real CIR practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CIR Quality Improvement & Patient Safety flashcards as text
In the context of cath lab safety culture, 'psychological safety' refers to:
Answer: Team members feeling safe to speak up about errors or concerns without fear of punishment
Psychological safety — the belief that one can raise concerns, report errors, or question decisions without reprisal — is a foundational element of high-reliability healthcare team culture.
Which cath lab complication is tracked as a 'never event' by CMS and major accrediting bodies?
Answer: Wrong-site arterial access (e.g., left vs. right femoral)
Wrong-site procedures are classified as serious reportable 'never events' by CMS and The Joint Commission because they are preventable errors that should never occur with proper protocol adherence.
A fluoroscopy time (FT) of greater than 30 minutes for a single cardiac procedure should trigger what action?
Answer: Mandatory documentation and consideration of follow-up skin dose evaluation for the patient
Fluoroscopy times exceeding 30 minutes should be documented, and patients may warrant follow-up skin assessment for potential radiation injury per ACR and joint society guidelines.
Which strategy is most effective for reducing cath lab staff radiation exposure over time?
Answer: Maximizing distance from the X-ray source and using available shielding consistently
Radiation exposure decreases with the square of distance (inverse square law), so increasing operator distance from the source combined with consistent use of ceiling-suspended and table-side shields dramatically reduces cumulative dose.
The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) antibiotic prophylaxis measure most relevant to cath lab implant procedures requires:
Answer: Prophylactic antibiotics to be administered within 60 minutes before skin incision and discontinued within 24 hours
SCIP infection prevention standards require appropriate prophylactic antibiotics (e.g., cefazolin) to be given within 60 minutes before incision and discontinued within 24 hours post-procedure to reduce surgical site infections.
Which tool is commonly used in cath lab quality programs to analyze frequency and severity of defects or adverse events using a visual priority ranking?
Answer: Pareto chart
A Pareto chart ranks adverse events or defects by frequency, visually identifying the 'vital few' causes that account for the majority of problems, guiding where improvement efforts will have the greatest impact.