HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Frederick L. Grover Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Grover, F. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Grover, F. L. Related Collections Related Article

Ann Thorac Surg 2007;83:1237-1239
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

---

Editorial

An Innovative New Concept for Quality Measurement in Adult Cardiac Surgery

President (2006-2007), The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois; Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Grover, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East Ninth Ave, C-305, Denver, CO 80262 (Email: frederick.grover@uchsc.edu).

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In a Supplement to this month’s The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the Quality Measurement Task Force (QMTF) under The Society of Thoracic Surgeon’s (STS) Workforce on National Databases, chaired by Dr David M. Shahian, presents a landmark report on a very innovative and statistically rigorous new methodology for evaluating the quality of coronary artery bypass grafting procedures [1, 2]. This is "must" reading for all cardiothoracic surgeons and other practitioners because of the absolute importance of solid methodology applied to performance measurement. Your future and your program’s future depend on this. This Task Force is composed of STS members Drs Fred H. Edwards, Victor A. Ferraris, Constance K. Haan, and Jeffrey B. Rich, and STS staff Cynthia M. Shewan, PhD, along with very sophisticated statisticians, Sean M. O’Brien, PhD, and Elizabeth R. DeLong, PhD, from the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), and Sharon-Lise T. Normand, PhD, from the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, and with DCRI representatives, Rachel S. Dokholyan, MPH, and Dr Eric D. Peterson. Finally, this Task Force is under the very able guidance of Dr Richard P. Anderson, Chair of the STS Council on Quality, Research, and Patient Safety.

In the late 1980s, the STS initiated and developed the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database and in subsequent years the General Thoracic Surgery and Congenital Heart Surgery Databases [3, 4]. The Adult Cardiac Database has matured and gained considerable respect over the past 18 years, now being the largest and most comprehensive single specialty clinical database in healthcare in the world. Critical in the development of this database was the concept of risk-adjusted operative mortality and morbidity. Over 780 groups and hospitals now participate in this database . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article

What Are the Odds?

Gary L. Grunkemeier and YingXing Wu
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2007 83: 1240-1244. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Brunelli, G. Varela, P. Van Schil, M. Salati, N. Novoa, J. M. Hendriks, M. F. Jimenez, P. Lauwers, and on behalf of the ESTS Audit and Clinical Excellenc Multicentric analysis of performance after major lung resections by using the European Society Objective Score (ESOS) Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., February 1, 2008; 33(2): 284 - 288. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]