Standards developed to improve surgical care in elderly

Editor's Note

The Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery (CQGS) developed high-quality, valid standards to improve surgical care in the older adult, this study finds.

A total of 306 of 308 standards developed were rated as valid to improve quality of geriatric surgery, 290 were rated as feasible, and 18 were rated as uncertain in feasibility.

The standards were divided into four sections:

• Section 1: 157 standards focused on goals and decision-making, preoperative optimization, and transitions in and out of the hospital.
• Section 2: 84 standards focused on in-hospital care, across the pre-, intra-, and postoperative phases.
• Section 3: 59 standards about program management, including personnel and committee structure, credentialing, and education.
• Section 4: 8 standards establishing overarching concepts for data collection and patient follow-up.

Future work will focus on a pilot phase to better understand and address challenges to implementation of the standards, the authors say.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish high-quality, valid standards to improve surgical care of the older adult. Background: The aging population increases demand for high-quality surgical care. Building upon prior guidelines, quality indicators, and pilot projects, the Coalition for...