Improving the treatment of pre-operative anemia in hepato-pancreato-biliary patients: a quality improvement initiative

Table 1 Problems, root causes, and change ideas identified during the diagnostic phase

Problem	Root Cause	Change Idea
Current algorithm is too complicated	Etiology of anemia can be multifactorial	Re-design the algorithm
Ordering of blood work is unclear	Blood work is required at multiple points in the patient journey	Simplify to CBC and ferritin
Unclear to whom to refer	Multiple programs (medicine, hematology, SBMP)	Designate SBMP as the sole referral destination
Optimal oral iron prescription is unknown	Surgeons do not routinely treat anemia	Create standardized prescriptions

ISSN: 1754-9493