A Review of the Literature on General Surgery Quality Management

Abstract

Total quality management is a methodical strategy with an emphasis on meeting customer expectations, recognizing issues, solving analytically patients' issues, and implementing continuous quality improvement. Using different combinations of the terms total quality management, healthcare, trauma, and minimally invasive surgery, an electronic search of the Pubmed, ProQuest, and Science Direct databases was used to conduct a systematic evaluation of the English-language medical literature. A component of ensuring the quality of patients' care is the evaluation of surgical outcomes. Typically, the surgeons have a unique set of mental parameters that can forecast favorable and unfavorable results. Quality control cannot be adequately replaced by surveys of complication rates and outcomes. It is impossible to distinguish between reported complications that are true (inherent to surgery and unavoidable) and those that are the result of a mistake or a mistake in judgment. A high level of quality assurance must be met during the first therapy of polytrauma patients in order to achieve the best results. The availability of sufficient resources—including personnel, technical tools, and specially built emergency rooms—at all times is a requirement.