On July 10, 2025, Dr. Jeffrey Cheng, Associate Professor of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences and Medical Director of Quality and Safety for Duke Children’s Surgery, led a thought-provoking webinar hosted by the ASPO (American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology) Quality and Safety Committee. The session, titled “Using Data to Drive Change,” brought together leading voices in pediatric otolaryngology to explore how data can be used to improve patient care and hospital systems.
Dr. Jeffrey Cheng opened the discussion by laying the groundwork for understanding quality and safety in healthcare. He explained the importance of measuring patient outcomes and system processes, visualizing that data, and interpreting the results to guide improvements. He also highlighted local resources that teams can use to start building their own quality improvement programs. During his talk, he demonstrated how tools like ChatGPT-4 and Vercel can help create custom dashboards and charts—making data more accessible and actionable for a wider range of users.
The webinar featured three expert panelists:
- Dr. J. Nathaniel Perkins discussed the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process, a method for identifying the underlying causes of problems in healthcare.
- Dr. Michael McCormick introduced national data repositories, such as the ACS NSQIP-P, that provide valuable insights into patient outcomes.
- Dr. Joshua Bedwell wrapped up the session by sharing strategies for managing change and showing how data reporting can lead to meaningful improvements at the institutional level.
Whether you're new to quality and safety or already deeply involved, the webinar offered practical tools and insights. Beginners gained a clear introduction to the basics, while experienced professionals found new ideas for leading change and sustaining progress in their organizations.