Complications—A New Open-Access Journal for Improving Our Understanding of Prevention and Management of Surgical, Interventional and Anesthesiologic Complications and Adverse Events

Abstract

The reporting of surgical, interventional, and anesthesiologic complications is essential for improving the quality of healthcare delivery and for standardizing and reproducing outcomes data. To address underlying issues in the reporting of complications and adverse events, it may be necessary to provide education and training, establish standardized definitions and reporting requirements, and create incentives for healthcare providers to report complications. Complications, a new international peer-reviewed open access journal, aims to provide best practice and expert opinion recommendations on the prevention, diagnosis, pathogenesis, and management of complications in basic, translational, and clinical research, as well as epidemiology. The journal invites authors to address four components of perioperative adverse events: assessment, reporting, analysis of anticipatable factors, and management. The usability and practical implications of this information can have significant implications for academic and clinical practice. The prioritization of the assessment and reporting of adverse events to standardize their management and improve the understanding of the impact of these events on patients’ peri-operative course.

Negative outcomes in medical research, such as adverse events, are vital for a comprehensive understanding of treatment effectiveness [1]. Identifying these outcomes is key to pinpointing potential safety issues and areas for enhancement, which are critical for patient care [2].

This commitment to patient safety and quality improvement is significant for maintaining the integrity of the medical profession and fostering trust in the healthcare system [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. These practices are underpinned by the principle of nonmaleficence, which requires prioritizing patient well-being and minimizing risks [15].

Complications and adverse events need to be reinterpreted; they should cease to be seen as a stigma. Recognizing them as physiological and an integral part of the learning process, particularly in surgical fields [15,16], can shift perspectives and improve practice.

A recent surge in publications regarding complications and adverse events may be attributed to an increasing emphasis on patient safety, as well as technological advancements and standardization of criteria for collecting, grading, and reporting these events. This standardization facilitates the study of complications and pattern identification (Figure 1).

However, standardizing the collection, grading, and reporting of complications comes with challenges [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26]. Factors contributing to this include lack of awareness, time constraints, fear of liability, absence of standardized definitions, and lack of incentives [16].

To address these challenges, it is crucial to encourage education and training on reporting, standardize definitions and requirements, establish incentives, and create a peer-reviewed resource for this information.

Complications (ISSN 2813-4966) [27] is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal that focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, etiology, and management of complications in all aspects of basic, translational, and clinical research, as well as epidemiology. The journal seeks to offer best practices and expert experience, and recommendations on intra-operative and post-operative adverse events.

Given the rising demand and cost of healthcare, the efficacy of its delivery is a central concern for policymakers. Quality metrics, often based on standardized and replicable outcome data, serve as key gauges of this efficacy. These metrics influence hospital training, profit margins, and insurance payouts, thereby shaping healthcare cost and quality. To address this, the journal Complications offers expert guidance on managing intra-operative and post-operative adverse events.

Authors are urged to explore four aspects of perioperative adverse events: assessment, grading, reporting, analysis of anticipatory factors (including patient, disease, and surgical features), and management. The practical relevance of this information, which could significantly impact academia and clinical practice, is highly valued.

To enhance quality and training, editors and reviewers should recommend Adverse events outcome reporting and documentation. Choosing the correct reporting tool is crucial to avoid data inaccuracies, and focus on evaluating and documenting adverse events is needed to standardize management and understand these events’ true impact on patients’ perioperative trajectory.