title: The role of guidelines in quality improvement for cancer surgery.
abstract: In February 2008, Cancer Surgery Alberta hosted a conference on surgical outcomes and quality. The objective here is to review the interactions between quality/outcomes and guidelines, highlighting surgeons' roles. Potential interactions between quality measurement and guidelines are discussed. We analyzed data from practitioner surveys about guidelines to determine surgeons' participation compared with other specialists. The response rate of surgeons in both community-based and academic practices to guideline development surveys was equivalent to other cancer disciplines.
authors.affiliation: The School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada. gbrowman@bccancer.bc.ca
authors.forename: George P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Browman
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brouwers
mesh_terms: D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D009864:Ontario; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000379:methods*