Standardized Postoperative Adverse Event Data Collection to Document, Inform, and Improve Patient Care

Abstract

There is great potential for standardized postoperative adverse events data collection to document, inform, audit, and feedback, all to optimize patient care. Adverse events, defined as any deviation from expected recovery from surgery, have harmful implications for patients, their families, and clinicians. Postoperative adverse events occur frequently in thoracic surgery, predominately due to the high-stakes (ie, high potential for cure) and high-risk (ie, vital physiology and anatomy and preexisting disease) nature of the surgery. As discussed, engaging surgeons in audit and feedback practices informed by standardized data collection would generate consensus recommendations to reduce adverse events and improve patient outcomes.

Keywords: Audit and feedback in Thoracic Surgery; Historical context, standardized data collection; Morbidity and Mortality Rounds; National integration; Positive deviance rounds; Surgeon self-assessment; The Clavien-Dindo Classification System.