Quality improvement (QI) is an essential knowledge base and valuable skill for frontline providers and leaders in surgery to improve care and optimize patient outcomes.  Acquisition of QI skills and methodology have not traditionally been reliably incorporated into surgical training or ongoing professional development – though there have been advanced in this in recent years. 

This textbook represents an opportunity to acquire and learn these skills as part of an academic career.  Successful acquisition and implementation of quality improvement skills has provided additional benefits for professional career development – leading to local and system leadership, academic productivity, meaningful improvement in patient outcomes and physician engagement, and development of management skills.  Understanding quality improvement methodology, interdisciplinary team development, coordination and systemization of quality in surgery includes the translation of research and process improvement into clinical practice and it requires dedicated time, training and resources.  QI alignment with academic progress, research, innovation and knowledge management is essential and should be an integral part of career development for academic surgeons.  Quality improvement also provides a platform to rediscover optimism, engender a sense of ownership and reduce burnout in surgical patient care.

Dr. Caroline E. Reinke is a general surgeon with a focus on emergency general surgery.  She joined the Department of Surgery at Atrium Health in 2015 and has led multiple initiatives to improve quality and safety across surgical specialties. 

Her current roles include:

·       Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Atrium Health; Wake Forest School of Medicine

·       Vice Chair of Quality, Department of Surgery, Atrium Health

·       Physician Lead, General Surgery Service Line, Greater Charlotte Market, Atrium Health

·       Surgical Quality Officer, Greater Charlotte Market, Atrium Health

·       Atrium Health NSQIP Collaborative Leader

In addition to her work at Atrium Health, she works with the American College of Surgeon serving as a site reviewer for the Quality Verification Program and the Emergency General Surgery Verification Program.

Dr. Sharma specializes in thyroid and parathyroid surgery, adrenal gland surgery, and pancreatic endocrine tumors. He routinely performs outpatient parathyroidectomies, outpatient thyroidectomies, and adrenalectomies using minimally invasive methods.

Since joining the Department of Surgery in 2006, Dr. Sharma has been a significant driver of standardizing and advancing care, quality, and safety in its programs and services.

• Professor, Division of General and GI Surgery, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
• Vice Chair of Quality, Patient Safety and Care Innovation, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
• William C. McGarity Chair of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine

In 2009, he became the primary steward for Emory University Hospital's (EUH) participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). In 2010, he began serving as Chief Quality Officer for the Division of General and GI Surgery, moved to Chief Quality Officer for the entire department in 2016, and was promoted to the department's Vice Chair of Quality, Patient Safety and Care Innovation in 2019.

His quality and safety-based achievements include the installment and oversight of the sustained internal auditing and localized-to-systemic renovation that continue to lower EUH's readmissions, incidence of surgical site infections, and overall mortality.

In addition to his Emory work, Dr. Sharma chairs the Georgia Surgical Quality Collaborative, a partnership of 14 hospitals from across the state. In this position, he directs and evaluates the member facilities' information-sharing systems and their subsequent examination and comparison of clinical outcomes data for the benefit of their patients and to reduce overall health care costs. His work with the CDC since 2012 has advanced the definitions of surgical site infections as well as tracking and refinement of risk-adjustment for SSIs nationally.