aDepartment of Surgery and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
bDivision of Cardiology, Danbury Hospital, Danbury, CT
cNational Surgical Quality Improvement Program, Office of Patient Care Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Aurora, CO
dUniversity of Colorado Health Outcomes Program, Aurora, CO
eVA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA
fHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA
gBrigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Competing Interests Declared: None.
This article is part of a group of articles from the Patient Safety in Surgery Study, a demonstration project between the Department of Veterans Affairs National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the American College of Surgeons in selected private-sector hospitals, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, grant number 5U18HS011913, entitled “Reporting System to Improve Patient Safety in Surgery.” The Patient Safety in Surgery Study led to the successful formation of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. This article represents the personal viewpoints of the authors and cannot be construed as a statement of official policy of the American College of Surgeons, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the US government.
*Correspondence address: Selwyn O Rogers Jr, MD, MPH, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115.
email: [email protected]
Submitted and accepted February 28, 2007.
