Assessing and improving quality in the post anesthesia care unit.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's 10 step methodology for quality assessment and improvement is a powerful tool for addressing and resolving complex interdisciplinary problems and issues. This article presents the basics of each of the 10 steps to illustrate a post anesthesia care unit (PACU) monitoring and evaluation process that is rigorous, objective, systematic, and relevant. In addition, two quality improvement tools, flow charts and cause-and-effect diagrams, are discussed.