Fig. 22.1
Article accesses to the open-access journal Patient Safety in Surgery. The graph shows the growing number of accesses to articles published from the time of the journal’s launch in November 2007, until June 2012. The data reflect access statistics to the PSS webpage exclusively, and do not include additional sources of access, including PubMed and other portals and article repositories (Adapted with permission from Stahel et al. [21])
The top-25 most accessed articles have been viewed through the PSS website more than 500,000 times to date (www.pssjournal.com/mostviewed/alltime).
The journal is supported by an internationally renowned editorial board with editors from 17 different countries (www.pssjournal.com/edboard), and is read online in more than 180 countries around the world (Fig. 22.2).
Fig. 22.2
Global readership of Patient Safety in Surgery. All countries with previous access to articles published in PSS are marked in blue background. The few unmarked countries do not have a history of access to the journal. These selected states include Greenland, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and some countries in West Africa and Central Africa (Adapted with permission from Stahel et al. [21])
The most accessed article published in PSS has been viewed through the journal’s webpage more than 10,000 times per year during the first 3 years of its publication [22]. This impressive metric supports the notion that the public is indeed interested in this pertinent topic, and that the theoretical barriers for open reporting outlined above, including legal considerations, do not appear to deter surgeons from publishing complications in an open global forum (Fig. 22.3).
Fig. 22.3
Representative selection of case reports published in Patient Safety in Surgery that report surgical complications, medical errors, and other adverse events (Source: www.pssjournal.com)
Take-Home Message
The open and transparent global reporting of medical errors and surgical complications represents the “conditio-sine-qua-non” for continuous quality improvement in the care provided to our patients. Reflected by the notion “You can’t fix what you don’t know!” the historic ‘veil of secrecy’ surrounding medical errors must be replaced by a ‘culture of patient safety’ aimed at understanding and improving current shortcomings and limitations in the quality of surgical care. Tort reform is needed to relieve surgeons from the fear of litigation—the main deterrent from open disclosure and reporting of surgical complications.
Conflict of Interest
Both authors declare that they are editors on the Editorial Board of the open-access journal Patient Safety in Surgery.
References
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Stahel PF, Flierl MA, Smith WR, Morgan SJ, Victoroff MS, Clarke TJ, Sabel AL, Mehler PS. Disclosure of surgical complications: a double-edged sword? Am J Med Qual. 2010;25:398–401.PubMed
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Stahel PF. Learning from aviation safety: a call for formal “readbacks” in surgery. Patient Saf Surg. 2008;2(1):21.PubMedCentralPubMed
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Murphy JG, Stee L, McEvoy MT, Oshiro J. Journal reporting of medical errors: the wisdom of Solomon, the bravery of Achilles, and the foolishness of Pan. Chest. 2007;131:890–6.PubMed
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Stahel PF, Clavien PA, Hahnloser D, Smith WR. A new journal devoted to patient safety in surgery: the time is now! Patient Saf Surg. 2007;1(1):1.PubMedCentralPubMed
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