Identifying quality markers of a safe surgical ward: An interview study of patients, clinical staff, and administrators.

Postoperative care quality is variable. Risk-adjusted mortality rates differ between institutions despite comparable complication rates. This indicates that there are underlying factors rooted in how care is delivered that determines patient safety. This study aims to evaluate systematically the surgical ward environment with respect to process-driven and structural factors to identify quality markers for safe care, from which new safety metrics may be derived.