Clinical Outcomes
The TRUE definition of quality is reduction of variation about the mean. As quality experts note, unless you have data, you have no business talking about quality. Summit Spinecare is a work in progress with the goal of improving how we care for back and neck patients over the next 5 years.
Summit Spinecare uses written protocols that emphasize a nonsurgical approach first, and surgery is held as the last resort. Summit Spinecare is the only spine center of excellence in the State of Minnesota to track and publish a Clinical Outcome Report Card that documents use of pills, patient satisfaction, and return to function.
Overview of Clinical Outcome Tracking
New patients coming into Summit Spinecare, located in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Minnesota area, will complete an intake form that measures their pain level, severity of symptoms and functional status. Three months after their first visit, a nurse will call a random sample of these patients and interview them for functional status, current symptoms and patient satisfaction. This is the most unbiased, statistically relevant method for outcomes analysis.
The clinical outcomes are then analyzed by an outside firm that specializes in tracking spine outcomes, and is involved with other spine centers across the U.S.
Unlike most providers of back and neck pain, a spine center typically receives the most complex patients. One in three new patients coming to Summit Spinecare had previous back surgery elsewhere. More than half of all new patients had serious neurological symptoms like pain radiating beyond a knee or elbow, or numbness in a leg or arm — which typically implies a disc-related problem. As to patient satisfaction, Summit Spinecare averaged 92% for all seven categories measured.
Quality is a journey, however, rather than a destination, and we are committed to continually improving. This report documents our footprints on that journey. Below is Summit Spinecare’s Clinical Outcome Report Card for the year 2011.
About Summit Spinecare | Spine Center approach to back and neck pain | Patient Success Stories | Spine Surgeons: Dr. Paul Hartleben | Dr. Bryan Lynn | Dr. Nicholas Wills | Nonsurgical Spine Physicians: Dr. John Dowdle | Dr. Thomas Cesarz | Dr. Kristen Zeller | Anatomy Library | Back and Neck Pain Prevention | Spine Pain Relief | Symptoms Chart | Educational Resources | How to Lift | Spine Conditions: | Back Pain | Neck Pain | Degenerative Disc | Herniated Disc | Spondylolysis | Spinal Stenosis | Scoliosis | Bone Spur | Spine Tumors | Back and Neck Pain Treatment | Spine Surgery | Contact Summit Spine Care | Woodbury Minnesota Location | Forest Lake Minnesota Location | Hastings Minnesota Location | St Paul Minnesota Location (near Saint Paul Cathedral) | Eagan Minnesota Location
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