Nearly 50 million people have surgery each year in the U.S., approximately one million develop serious complications, and over 150,000 patients die within 30 days. Through its ACTION II partnership, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is funding a national Surgical Unit-based Safety Program (SUSP) to reduce surgical site infections (SSI) and other surgical complications.

The National Project team includes world-renowned experts from the Armstrong Institute, the American College of Surgeons, the University of Pennsylvania and the World Health Organization Patient Safety Programme. In addition, the National Project Team includes faculty who helped develop and implement the Department of Defense and AHRQ-funded TeamSTEPPS program.

We are now recruiting hospitals to participate in this project!

Below are several resources you can use to learn more about SUSP and how to get involved:

On-Boarding Calls that introduce the project and key concepts to participants in SUSP

• Project Overview, Dr. Sean Berenholtz   slides
  • Cohort 1: July 10, 2012   audio only  
  • Cohort 2
    • September 25, 2012   webinar
    • Septembr 27, 2012   webinar
• Building Your SUSP Team, Part 1, July 19, 2012, Dr. Mike Rosen   slides   SUSP Team Membership Form
  • Cohort 1: July 19, 2012   audio only
  • Cohort 2: October 2, 2012   webinar
• SUSP - The Science of Safety, Dr. Sean Berenholtz, Dr. Chris Goeschel   slides   Perioperative Staff Safety Assessment
  • Cohort 1: July 26, 2012  webinar   audio only  
  • Cohort 2
    • October 9, 2012   webinar 
    • October 11, 2012   webinar
• Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) , Dr. Chris Goeschel, Deb Hobson, RN, Dr. Liza Wick, Dr. Lisa Lubomski  
  • Cohort 1
    • July 31, 2012   webinar   audio only   slides only
    • August 2, 2012   webinar   audio only   slides only
  • Cohort 2
    • October 16, 2012   webinar
    • October 18, 2012   webinar
• Surgical Site Infections, August 8, 2012, Dr. Liza Wick, Deb Hobson   
  • Cohort 1
    • August 8, 2012   webinar   audio only   slides only
  • Cohort 2
    • November 6, 2012   webinar 
    • November 8, 2012   webinar 
      
• Building Your SUSP Team, Part 2, Dr. Mike Rosen, Dr. Lisa Lubomski   SUSP Team Formation Roles and Responsibilities
  • Cohort 1
    • August 14, 2012   audio only   slides only
    • August 16, 2012   webinar   audio only   slides only 
  • Cohort 2
    • October 23, 2012   webinar 
    • October 25, 2012   webinar 
• Building and Measuring Safety Culture, Dr. Sallie Weaver, Dr. Lisa Lubomski   Measuring Patient Safety Culture Manual, Part 1   HSOPS Survey Coordinator Description   Safety Culture Survey Debriefing Plan: Quick Reference Guide
  • Cohort 1: August 21, 2012:   webinar   slides only
  • Cohort 2: November 13, 2012   webinar

Content Calls that dig deeper into SUSP project tools and methods

• The SUSP Project Platform, Dr. Terry Shen and Dr. Julius Pham
  • Cohort 1: September 13, 2012   webinar
• Measuring Safety Culture: Navigating the Online HSOPS App, Dr. Sallie Weaver  
  • Cohort 1: September 20, 2012   webinar
• Give The Vision, then Give Them Voice: The Science of Patient Safety and the Staff Safety Assessment, Dr. Lisa Lubomski   slides   Science of Safety Training Attendance Sheet   Perioperative Safety Assessment
  • Cohort 1: Octopber 2, 2012   webinar

Informational Calls for potential participants:

• April 3, 2012 Call  audio only   slides only
• April 30, 2012 Call  webinar   audio only   slides only

Frequently Asked Questions about SUSP

Recruitment Flyer