Emergency General Surgery Process Improvement Review

In this work, we aim to highlight original research publications within the past 5 years that address performance improvement (PI) for emergency general surgery (EGS).

In 2022, the AAST and the American College of Surgeons launched the EGS verification program and the EGS standards manual—Optimal Resources for Emergency General Surgery. The key elements of EGS PI include: a data registry, personnel, clinical practice guidelines, PI events, and a peer review process.

While EGS represents a substantial burden of hospitalization and spending, public funding does not match other surgical subspecialties. For effective PI, EGS programs will need a combination of funding for support personnel and EMR-based registry solutions which accurately capture all patients cared for by EGS teams, operatively and non-operatively. This must be reproducible in all hospitals who care for patients with EGS-related diagnoses, not just tertiary care facilities.