Patient Safety in Surgery

In general, surgeons strive to achieve excellent results and ideal patient outcomes, however, this noble task is frequently failed. For patients, surgical complications are analogous to 'friendly fire' in wartime. Both scenarios imply that harm is unintentionally done by somebody whose aim was to help. Interestingly, adverse events resulting from surgical interventions are more frequently related to system errors and a communication breakdown among providers, rather than to the imminent threat of the surgical blade 'gone wrong'.   Patient Safety in Surgery aims to increase the safety and quality of care for patients undergoing surgical procedures in all fields of surgery.   Patient Safety in Surgery, covers all aspects related to patient safety in surgery, including pertinent issues of interest to surgeons, medical trainees (students, residents, and fellows), nurses, anaesthesiologists, patients, patient families, advocacy groups, and medicolegal experts.? ??

Philip F. Stahel, MD, FACS Department of Orthopaedics, Denver Health Medical Center, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

Cyril Mauffrey MD, MRCS (UK), FRCS (UK) Department of Orthopedics, Denver Health medical Centre, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA