German surgical residency training – quo vadis?

Michael A Flierl

Department of Pathology, The University of Michigan Medical School, 1301 Catherine Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

author email corresponding author email

Patient Safety in Surgery 2008, 2:9doi:10.1186/1754-9493-2-9


Published:	25 April 2008

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Recently, patient safety has been featured in front-page headlines of major German newspapers and on news channels [1,2]. Triggered by the courageous "outing" of 17 well-established German physicians, disturbing rates of potentially preventable errors have been reported. Although the German "Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit" ("Action Alliance Patient Safety") was founded back in April 2005, it appears that the concept of patient safety has been "flying under the public radar" of recognition until present. Unfortunately, numerous prestigious German medical centers still consider adverse events, mistakes, and complications as a taboo, thereby preventing their own guild from learning from their mistakes and advancing patient care. In sharp contrast, the implemented standards for patient safety in the United States appear to be well ahead of the persistently anecdotal way of dealing with medical errors and complications in Germany [3,4]. Raising surgeon awareness for patient safety symbolizes medical innovation, and these advances start with medical education.