Surgical Care Improvement Project and the perioperative nurse's role.

The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) was formed by a partnership of national organizations with the goal of reducing surgical complications by 25% by 2010. The focus of the SCIP initiative includes four key components that perioperative health care workers can address in reducing the morbidity and mortality of surgical patients. By implementing SCIP quality measures, hospitals could prevent an estimated 13,000 patient deaths and 271,000 surgical complications each year.