Standards for Quality Surgical Care for Older Adults Finalized by Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery

The American College of Surgeons Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery said proposed quality standards for improving surgical care of older adults received feedback from a sample of North American hospitals, and those considered most practically deployable are undergoing pilot testing prior to a national launch, reports Newswise . The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has published the feasibility study's findings . "The aim of the Coalition is to ensure as much as possible that surgical care for older adults is evidence-based and standardized, has optimal outcomes with low complication rates, and that the outcomes are those that are important to recipients," said University of California, Los Angeles Professor Clifford Y. Ko. "The Coalition helped to identify topic areas for hospital-level standards, including the resources, infrastructure, and clinical processes that must be put in place in order to obtain optimal outcomes for geriatric surgical recipients." The study determined 28 of 108 standards were duplicative, 35 were too hard to implement, and 45 had high potential. Most of the duplicative and difficult standards were eliminated; the approximately 30 standards remaining are undergoing pilot testing at eight hospitals.