TY  - JOUR
T1  - UTility of the surgical apgar score—invited critique
AU  - Campbell DA, Jr
Y1  - 2009/01/19
N1  - 10.1001/archsurg.2008.505
JO  - Archives of Surgery
SP  - 37
EP  - 37
VL  - 144
IS  - 1
N2  - 
I disagree with the authors' assertion that the Surgical Apgar Score “does not allow for comparison of quality among institutions.” However, the score requires a little tweaking for this application. If one stratifies patient populations by preoperative risk Current Procedural Terminology code, or both, one might find some real differences in Surgical Apgar Score from institution to institution within these categories. These differences could relate to surgical skill, anesthetic management, or system problems, given that all other patient and procedural factors are equal. Identifying these variations might then uncover a path of quality improvement that was not evident previously.

SN  - 0004-0010
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archsurg.2008.505
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.2008.505
ER  -