title: Quality, patient safety, and the cardiac surgical team.
abstract: After more than a decade of attention, the risks inherent in cardiac surgery have been well documented, but examples of effective interventions to reduce this risk remain scarce. The need is great, because the patient population is vulnerable and the potential consequences of poor outcomes are ever present and significant. This article reviews a decade of discussion surrounding quality and safety issues in cardiac surgery, and concludes with examples of strategies that have shown great promise for improving cardiac surgery quality and safety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, GRB 444, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Martinez.Elizabeth@mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Martinez
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D061214:Patient Safety; D011787:Quality of Health Care