Abstract

SANABRIA, Álvaro  and  CASTANEDA, Martha. Quality in surgery: what makes the country's best surgeon?. rev. colomb. cir. [online]. 2014, vol.29, n.1, pp.7-11. ISSN 2011-7582.

Surgical procedures require a close relation between institutions and health care professionals in order to guarantee a successful outcome. Therefore, a hospital registry of the number of complications and the functional outcomes of each surgical team will help patients to make a better choice. However, in Colombia the information provided by state organizations and other groups as scientific societies, heath care insurance companies and hospitals are weak, incomplete, unspecific, insufficient and out of date, which make the choice of the health care provider difficult. Management systems requirements that try to guarantee minimal conditions to offer a health service to satisfy the patients' needs and assure high quality service, sometimes confuse patients and give up clinical outcomes, which are the main factor to make a decision about a health care provider. Few managed healt care systems report clinical outcomes although they include on data about satisfaction, adverse events detection and management and some complications. It is necessary to create clinical outcomes registries by physicians and hospitals that allow a more transparent choice by patients.

Keywords : surgery; quality assurance; health care; physician-patient relations; patient safety; outcome and process assessment (health care).

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