Sustained culture and surgical outcome improvement.

Background: A focus on the culture of safety and patient outcomes continues to grow in importance. Several initiatives targeted at individual deficits have been described but few institutions have shown the effect of a global change in culture on patient outcomes.

Methods: Patient care perception was assessed using Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) by Pascal Metrics.

Performance improvement: getting an early start.

Background: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) and the Surgical Care Improvement Program (SCIP) can be utilized to develop quality initiatives to improve surgical care. Understanding the fundamentals of quality measures provides insight to the six Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Resident education needs a robust exposure to quality measures, such as NSQIP and SCIP to prepare surgeons for tomorrow's healthcare system.