Quality Assessment & Safety Committee - References

National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)

New Study Shows Quality Focus Reduces Surgical Complications and Disparities of Care in U.S. Hospitals
Hospitals Participating in the American College of Surgeons' NSQIP Program Prevent 250-500 Complications Annually, per Hospital; Health Reform Measures Focused on Quality Can Improve Care, Reduce Disparities and Reduce Costs. 

Successful Implementation of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program in the Private Sector: The Patient Safety in Surgery Study. Khuri SF, Henderson WG, Daley J, et al. Annals of Surgery. 2008;248(2):329-336.

Blueprint for a new American College of Surgeons: National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Birkmeyer JD. Shahian DM. Dimick JB. Finlayson SR. Flum DR. Ko CY. Hall BL.  Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 207(5):777-82, 2008 Nov.

Outcomes

Understanding and reducing variation in surgical mortality. Birkmeyer JD. Dimick JB.  Annual Review of Medicine. 60:405-15, 2009.

Frailty as a predictor of surgical outcomes in older patients.  Makary MA, Segev DL, Pronovost PJ, Syin D, Bandeen-Roche K, Patel P, Takenaga R, Devgan L, Holzmueller CG, Tian J, Fried LP.  J Am Coll Surg. 2010 Jun:210(6):901-8.

Retained Foreign Body

Incidence and characteristics of potential and actual retained foreign object events in surgical patients. Cima RR, Kollengode A, Garnatz J, Storsveen A, Weisbrod C, Deschamp C. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 38:17042008;207(1):80-87.

Accuracy of plain abdominal radiographs in the detection of retained surgical needles in the peritoneal cavity. Ponrartana S, Coakley FV, Yeh BM, et al. Annals of Surgery. 2008;247(1):8-12.

Managing the prevention of retained surgical instruments: what is the value of counting? Egorova NN, Moskowitz A, Gelijns A, et al. Annals of Surgery. 2008;247(1):13-18.

Beyond counting: current evidence on the problem of retaining foreign bodies in surgery? Greenberg CC, Gawande AA. Annals of Surgery. 2008;247(1):19-20.

Surgical Site Infection

Antimicrobial Prophylaxis: An Advisory Statement from the National Surgical Infection Project. Bratzler DW, Houk PM. CID 2004.

Anastomotic leaks after bowel resection: what does peer review teach us about the relationship to postoperative mortality?. Hyman NH. Osler T. Cataldo P. Burns EH. Shackford SR.  Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 208(1):48-52, 2009 Jan.

Implementation of quality measures to reduce surgical site infection in colorectal patients.  Wick EC, Gibbs L, Indorf LA, Varma MG, Garcia-Aguilar J.  Dis Colon Rectum. 2008 Jul;51(7):1004-9.

Teamwork/Communication

Assessing organisational culture for quality and safety improvement: a national survey of tools and tool use. Mannion R, Konteh FH, Davies HT.  Quality Safety Health Care. 2009;18(2):153-156. 

Free Online Books

To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System
This book addresses issues related to patient safety, a subset of overall quality-related concerns, and lays out a national agenda for reducing errors in health care and improving patient safety.

Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century.
This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health-care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others.