Archive for March, 2017
Looking forward – March 2017
In this month’s column, Dr. Hoyt describes the College’s commitment to key advocacy initiatives that ensure access to quality care for surgical patients, reduce health care costs, and promote meaningful change.
Evolving insights for preventing surgeon errors: Balancing professionalism and cognition with knowledge and skill
This month’s cover story outlines how cognition and self-reflection affect performance and outcomes and provides a sample case describing how behavioral factors likely contributed to an adverse event.
Patient-reported outcomes in surgery: Listening to patients improves quality of care
The role of patient-reported outcome measures are identified in this article, particularly as they relate to enhanced patient engagement and improved quality of surgical care.
Value-based health care: How to succeed in a bundled care APM
This article describes bundling and Accountable Care Organizations as they relate to the Advanced Alternative Payment Model plan and provides lessons learned by one institution that developed bundled care packages to improve quality of care and control costs.
Coding for nipple-sparing and skin-sparing mastectomies
Correct coding reporting descriptions for skin- and nipple-sparing mastectomies are summarized in this month’s column.
Practice changes for reducing UTIs in colon and rectal surgery patients
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, sought to investigate whether standardized management of indwelling urinary catheterization placement and duration could reduce the incident of UTIs after colon and rectal surgery.
In search of the philosopher’s stone: The ALCHEMIST study for lung cancer
This month’s column provides an update on the ALCHEMIST trials for patients with operable lung cancer, including the addition of a third arm to study, which permits the inclusion of patients without ALK or EGFR mutations.
Celebrating the sesquicentennial of Lord Joseph Lister
Lord Joseph Lister’s contribution to the evolution of surgical safety is described in this month’s column, specifically how he incorporated Pasteur’s findings into his theories regarding antiseptic surgery, paving the way for a closer alignment between science and medicine.
Honoring mentors: An ACS tradition
The value of mentorship as exemplified by the Claude H. Organ, Jr., MD, FACS, Traveling Fellowship; the Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS, Faculty Research Fellowship; and the Olga M. Jonasson Lectureship is the focus of this month’s column.
The Joint Commission clarifies stance on secure text messaging of patient care orders
The Joint Commission discourages secure texting of patient care orders for several reasons, including the increased burden of entering the information manually into the electronic health record.
What you don’t see can kill you
This month’s column examines the occurrence of injured patients with retroperitoneal hematoma from a blunt mechanism reported in the National Trauma Data Bank® (NTDB®) research dataset.
Children’s Surgery Verification program officially under way
The final standards for the Children’s Surgery Verification Quality Improvement Program have been released along with a pre-review questionnaire for centers seeking verification.
ACS launches AHRQ Safety Program for ERAS
The American College of Surgeons (ACS), in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Baltimore, MD, has launched the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Safety Program for Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS). This new surgical quality improvement program is funded and guided by AHRQ. The AHRQ Safety […]
ACS NSQIP conference gets new name, expanded focus
With a new emphasis on the broad spectrum of ACS Quality Programs, the ACS NSQIP Annual Conference will now be known as the 2017 ACS Quality and Safety Conference and will take place July 21–24 at the New York Hilton Midtown, NY.
Register for 2017 ACS Residents as Teachers and Leaders Course
Registration is open for the 11th annual ACS Residents as Teachers and Leaders Course, April 28−30 at the College’s headquarters in Chicago, IL.
ACS Surgeons as Leaders Course Set for April 30
Apply now for the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgeons as Leaders: From Operating Room to Boardroom Course April 30–May 3 in Durham, NC.
22 cancer care facilities receive biannual CoC Outstanding Achievement Award
The ACS Commission on Cancer has granted its year-end 2016 Outstanding Achievement Award to 22 accredited cancer programs throughout the U.S.
Coming next month in JACS, and online now: Distal cholangiocarcinoma and pancreas cancer
This news brief highlights a JACS article that examines the results of a distal cholangiocarcinoma and pancreatic cancer multi-institution study.
Post-election health policy takes center stage at AMA HOD meeting
This report summarizes the topics that the College’s delegation addressed at the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates meeting in November 2016.
International scholarships for surgical education now available
The ACS Division of Education and the International Relations Committee have announced two international scholarships focused on surgical education. All 2017 application materials and supporting documents are due May 1.
