title: A situational overview of surgical quality and safety in 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Surgical safety and quality initiatives have now moved to the front of the agenda for contemporary surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-two surgical specialists began to study quality and cost control in 1998, and those efforts grew into a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-funded pilot study of the Surgical Care Improvement Project in 2004. Subsequent symposia and studies evolved.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A greater awareness of the issues and methods for meaningful improvement of surgical safety in nearly 25,000 specialty surgeries have been described in numerous peer-reviewed publications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgeon-initiated efforts have led to marked improvements in multiple specialties and in many small and large hospitals and academic training centers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. hcpolk01@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Hiram C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Polk
authors.forename: Margaret B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Tyson
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galandiuk
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013043:Specialties, Surgical; D014481:United States