The Tools of Quality Improvement: CQI Versus Epidemiology

When Your Only Tool Is a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail In this issue, Burnett and Chesher describe how they applied tools developed for continuous quality improvement (CQI) to reduce the risk of sharps injuries in their hospital.1 They charted the number of syringes received in the lab with the needle still attached, then contacted the medical officers involved in these instances to determine the reason why. In most cases, the needle was left on because the medical officers could not find the syringe cap. Using this information, the hospital changed to preheparinized syringes that were prepackaged with their caps. Subsequently, the number of syringes returned with attached needles fell significantly. Burnett and Chesher found the solution to their