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Defining Quality in Surgery

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The SAGES Manual of Quality, Outcomes and Patient Safety

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Abstract

Although there are innumerable ongoing efforts to measure, report, and improve the quality of surgical care, there is very little agreement on how to best assess quality in surgery. According to the widely used Donabedian paradigm, quality can be measured using various aspects of structure, process, and outcomes. However, each of these measures has important limitations, and new paradigms such as patient-reported outcomes are now being used as part of value-based reimbursement. In this chapter, we discuss the pros and cons of various quality metrics and make recommendations for choosing among them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ryan Howard & Justin B. Dimick

Authors
  1. Ryan Howard
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  2. Justin B. Dimick
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Correspondence to Justin B. Dimick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School - Baystate, Medical Center, Springfield, MA, USA

    John R. Romanelli

  2. Department of Surgery, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, VA, USA

    Jonathan M. Dort

  3. Department of Surgery, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Rebecca B. Kowalski

  4. Department of Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Prashant Sinha

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Howard, R., Dimick, J.B. (2022). Defining Quality in Surgery. In: Romanelli, J.R., Dort, J.M., Kowalski, R.B., Sinha, P. (eds) The SAGES Manual of Quality, Outcomes and Patient Safety. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94610-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94610-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94609-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94610-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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