In surgery, new surgeons are trained by their peers. Young surgeons learn from experienced surgeons, who pass on years of knowledge and understanding. We help new surgeons understand the nuances of care that can’t be learned in a book. But the way we care for patients isn’t based on experience alone. How we operate needs to be backed by the best available evidence, so we know we are doing all we can to improve care in ways that matter to our patients.
At the American College of Surgeons (ACS), that’s what we have strived for since our organization was founded. Nearly 100 years ago, cancer was one of the first diseases where care variability was a significant focus for patients. They wanted to know that hospital where they received their care followed the highest standards. So, the ACS became one of the first professional organizations in the world to set quality standards. We held hospitals and staff accountable, regularly verifying that they met these high standards with the care they provided. But we also knew we could continue to do better, so we began collecting data, creating common definitions for cancer diagnosis, and conducting research that would help us set new standards, save more lives and improve the quality of life for more patients.
Now, we’re raising the bar higher, with a new program that will identify the best ways to treat cancer patients, based on the best available clinical evidence. The new program, called the Cancer Surgery Standards Program (CSSP), will implement technical standards for cancer operations, beginning with lung, breast, colon and rectal cancers and melanoma. These standards will reduce care variability and provide patients with greater assurance that we’re doing all we can to extend their lives and give them a better quality of life as they live with cancer.
The program will also standardize the way operative data are documented and communicated, using digital checklists that can be integrated into the electronic medical record and that soon will automatically input data into hospital data registries and the National Cancer Database. The information will better inform the entire care team and increase collaboration. It also will help surgeons better ensure they are meeting the standards. Once validated by the surgical community, this new evidence can be incorporated into new standards that correlate to better outcomes. Doing so creates a continuous loop of improvement, moving the bar ever higher.
Compliance with these operative standards is now required for ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation. That’s good news for our patients, because it strengthens what it means to be a CoC-accredited hospital. When patients see the CoC logo on their hospital’s website, they can be assured it represents the highest standards of cancer care, that the hospital and their surgeons are committed to continuous improvement, and that the treatment they receive is based on the best available clinical evidence.
This feedback loop is critical to improving care. When a failure occurs, we need to know why. When an improvement occurs, we need to know why too, so we can adopt it more widely. We know we can’t get better if we don’t have objective ways to judge our performance. That’s true whether you’re an artist, an athlete or a surgeon. As surgeons, we must hold ourselves accountable. The CSSP allows us to measure and track what we’ve accomplished for our patients, leading the way to better care.
Learn more about the Cancer Surgery Standards Program.
