DEVELOPMENT OF A CLINICAL REFERENCE FOR SCREENING AND PERIOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH OSA

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder that affects millions of people in the U.S. with the vast majority of people remaining undiagnosed. Undiagnosed OSA can lead to detrimental health outcomes and significant healthcare costs both in the intraoperative period and beyond. Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center has discovered that intraoperative management of OSA is an area that needs improvement specifically relating to screening and diagnosis of OSA in the perioperative period. The purpose of this project was to develop a clinical reference (CR) based on current evidence and provide education to clinicians on its utilization in practice. The IOWA model was used to carry out this practice improvement project. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to implement and evaluate the project at Kaiser Fontana due to limited resources and the inability to carry out practice change during this time. The plan for implementation, data, analysis, and education pertaining to the OSA CR were established in order to prepare for implementation and evaluation.