Relationship between Patient Safety and Hospital Surgical Volume

Objective To examine the relationship between hospital volume and in‐hospital adverse events. Data Sources Patient safety indicator (PSI) was used to identify hospital‐acquired adverse events in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database in abdominal aortic aneurysm, coronary artery bypass graft, and Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass from 2005 to 2008. Study Design In this observational study, volume thresholds were defined by mean year‐specific terciles. PSI risk‐adjusted rates were analyzed by volume tercile for each procedure. Principal Findings Overall, hospital volume was inversely related to preventable adverse events. High‐volume hospitals had significantly lower risk‐adjusted PSI rates compared to lower volume hospitals (p