The Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) Committee has a critical function to develop internal and external policy on quality and safety on behalf of the AUA, its members and the larger urological community. Although this core mission is vital, there remains a growing interest, need and opportunity for direct engagement, support and growth of the science and practice of QIPS by urologists, affiliated health care professionals and trainees in our residency and fellowship programs.

The Engage with Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (E-QIPS) repository was officially launched in August 2021 and is an online collection of QIPS projects from members of the urological community. The aim of E-QIPS is to highlight QIPS accomplishments, foster growth, encourage collaboration and elevate urological care. E-QIPS submissions can take the form of either completed projects or works-in-progress. The goal of works-in-progress is to encourage others to participate in ongoing efforts to obtain future combined outcomes. Each E-QIPS guide is peer-reviewed and formatted to allow urological health professionals to understand the specific quality or safety problem, objectives, interventions, outcomes, impact and sustainability with the purpose of transfer and application to local individual or group practice change.

Members of the QIPS Committee use a validated scoring guide to evaluate E-QIPS submissions. Specifically, we evaluate the definition of the problem, objectives, evidence of QIPS framework, resources and the intervention. Once evaluated, scores are returned to the authors with one of the following classifications: reject with recommendations for improvement, accept with the need for revision based on reviewer comments and accept with the option for revision. If accepted, the E-QIPS guide will be posted on the AUA website. This can be listed as a peer-reviewed publication and does not prevent the authors from submitting to a journal if they desire to do so.

While still in the early stages since its inception, we are encouraged and excited about the initial interest and high-quality projects already submitted. To date, seven completed projects and two works-in-progress have been published. E-QIPS has been introduced at national meetings including the Society of Academic Urologists (SAU) and AUA2022. Presentations are planned for upcoming AUA section meetings to further promote and encourage participation. We have begun discussions with AUA Publications to identify the best venue for publication of these projects in the future.

We invite all members of the urological community to showcase their QIPS initiatives by submitting a project. We are specifically looking for concise tutorials of proven urological practice improvement strategies that can be replicated and applied to other practices to potentially increase safety, efficacy and efficiency of patient care. We would be excited to review any projects fitting this description, whether they be in the operating room, clinic, ambulatory centers or other appropriate environments. We also encourage you to visit the website to view the excellent projects already part of the E-QIPS repository. For further details on how to submit a project or to view E-QIPS Guides, please visit AUAnet.org/E-QIPS.