Standardizing Rectal Suction Biopsy Preparation With a Dedicated Equipment Box: A Quality Improvement Project.
- 1Pediatric Surgery, Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for Wales, Cardiff, GBR.
Abstract
Rectal suction biopsy is an established diagnostic procedure for suspected Hirschsprung disease, but reliable performance depends on having multiple pieces of equipment, consumables, specimen containers, and documentation immediately available. In our paediatric surgical clinical area, the required items were stored in different locations, resulting in avoidable searching, workflow interruptions, and the possibility of missing essential equipment during preparation. A quality improvement (QI) project was undertaken to standardize preparation through a dedicated, clearly labelled rectal suction biopsy equipment box. A procedure-specific checklist was developed, the box was placed in an agreed accessible location, and staff were oriented to its use and the restocking process. The intervention was trialled for more than one month and evaluated using an anonymous staff survey and observational feedback. Contemporaneous project documentation recorded improved immediate equipment availability, reduced time spent searching for items, improved workflow efficiency, and high staff satisfaction. Sustainability measures included a contents checklist inside the box, assigned responsibility for restocking, and a permanent storage location. The original response-level survey dataset and objective timing measurements were not available for re-analysis when this report was prepared; therefore, no percentages, p-values, or numerical effect estimates are presented. This low-cost intervention provides a reproducible framework for standardizing preparation for a specialized paediatric surgical procedure. Future cycles should prospectively record preparation time, missing-item events, restocking failures, cost, and sustained compliance.
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BibTeX
@article{alkhatib2026standardizing,
title = {{Standardizing Rectal Suction Biopsy Preparation With a Dedicated Equipment Box: A Quality Improvement Project.}},
author = {Yasir Alkhatib},
journal = {Cureus},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.7759/cureus.116518},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898525},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Standardizing Rectal Suction Biopsy Preparation With a Dedicated Equipment Box: A Quality Improvement Project.
AU - Yasir Alkhatib
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
JO - Cureus
DO - 10.7759/cureus.116518
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898525
AB - Rectal suction biopsy is an established diagnostic procedure for suspected Hirschsprung disease, but reliable performance depends on having multiple pieces of equipment, consumables, specimen containers, and documentation immediately available. In our paediatric surgical clinical area, the required items were stored in different locations, resulting in avoidable searching, workflow interruptions, and the possibility of missing essential equipment during preparation. A quality improvement (QI) project was undertaken to standardize preparation through a dedicated, clearly labelled rectal suction biopsy equipment box. A procedure-specific checklist was developed, the box was placed in an agreed accessible location, and staff were oriented to its use and the restocking process. The intervention was trialled for more than one month and evaluated using an anonymous staff survey and observational feedback. Contemporaneous project documentation recorded improved immediate equipment availability, reduced time spent searching for items, improved workflow efficiency, and high staff satisfaction. Sustainability measures included a contents checklist inside the box, assigned responsibility for restocking, and a permanent storage location. The original response-level survey dataset and objective timing measurements were not available for re-analysis when this report was prepared; therefore, no percentages, p-values, or numerical effect estimates are presented. This low-cost intervention provides a reproducible framework for standardizing preparation for a specialized paediatric surgical procedure. Future cycles should prospectively record preparation time, missing-item events, restocking failures, cost, and sustained compliance.
SN - 2168-8184
ER -