Introduction to Neurosurgical Focus: Innovations in neurosurgical quality and safety
Albert E. Telfeian MD, PhD, Ziya L. Gokaslan MD, Thomas Santarius MD, PhD, and Hyeun-Sung Kim MD, PhD.
“In this Neurosurgical Focus issue on innovations in neurosurgical quality, an international collection of papers is presented with the theme of a new look at neurosurgical quality. The term “quality” indicates that there is a standard that can be measured. A new look or an innovation regarding quality would not mean that our standards have changed, but it does in fact mean that our perspective on the standard and how we measure the degree of excellence of something have changed with time and technological advancement.
The issue is presented in two parts: 1) topics on innovations in care delivery; and 2) topics on innovations in measuring, predicting, and grading outcomes. What is an innovation in care delivery today? As an example, during a pandemic and in a nation on lockdown, patients with Parkinson’s disease could receive their postoperative care by smartphone. Technology has evolved, which gives us new tools. The new perspective is to think to measure the cost savings to patients who do not have to travel from remote locations to receive their postoperative care. What is an innovation in measuring, predicting, and grading outcomes? A journal can compile an issue on outcomes of scoliosis surgery with detailed measurements over time, but how much more insight can be gleaned from one article on how patients perceive and report their outcomes of scoliosis surgery on Instagram?
Almost every subspecialty in neurosurgery is represented in this issue. We hope the readers find the innovations in quality in each of these papers exciting and applicable to their practices.”
Read Neurosurgical Focus Volume 51 (2021): Issue 5 (Nov 2021): Innovations in Neurosurgical Quality and Safety Here
