Improving Surgical Standards: Using Industrial Practices and Technology to Improve Surgical Practice

The sophistication of health and surgical care quality improvement strategies is limited. This is particularly true when compared with initiatives in manufacturing and other major industries. Over the last several decades, industry improvements in efficiency, reliability, and production quality using methods, such as Six Sigma and Lean, may offer insight on the next steps in quality improvement in colorectal surgical care. Other tools, such as surgeon-specific registries, integrated databases, enhanced recovery pathways, and standardization of surgery, when coupled with these process improvement schemes, have great potential for improved safety, efficiency, and outcomes in patient care. The authors discuss these strategies and how they relate to surgical care quality improvement.