Skip to main content

Scope and Mission

Patient Safety in Surgery is an open access PubMed-indexed journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles in the field of surgical patient safety, and beyond.

The journal’s mission is to provide an international forum for healthcare professionals to report, discuss, debate, and critically review all aspects of care delivery that impose a risk on patient safety, with the ultimate goal of eliminating preventable adverse events and improving patient outcomes on a larger scale.

Machine learning approach for improvement of patient safety in surgery

Guest Editors:
Kathryn Holland: Mission Health, United States
Roy Nanz: Mission Health, United States
Submission Status: Open until 1 October 2023

Featured Article: Opioid-free anesthesia as the next frontier in surgical patient safety

Opioids have represented a baseline medication for the provision of general anesthesia for more than a century. However, the use of opioids contributes to the evolving opioid addiction epidemic and is associated with significant side effects and perioperative complications.

The current featured editorial discusses the modern concept of "opioid-free anesthesia" as a feasible and safe alternative to conventional general anesthesia.

Opioid-free anesthesia: the next frontier in surgical patient safety

About the Editor

"This is an exciting time to be involved in promoting a global culture of patient safety among all healthcare providers, particularly for the next generation of physicians and surgeons. Current patient safety protocols continue to fall short of protecting our patients from suffering unintended harm. Our journal provides a forum for reporting, discussing, and designing new patient safety standards for the future."

– Philip F. Stahel, Editor-in-Chief

Sign up to receive article alerts

Patient Safety in Surgery is published continuously online-only and so we encourage you to sign up to receive free email alerts to keep up to date with all of the latest articles by registering here.

Editors-in-Chief
Prof Philip F Stahel, Mission Health, USA
Prof Pierre-Alain Clavien, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland

Managing Editors
Prof Sebastian Weckbach, University Hospital Ulm, Germany
Dr Navid Ziran, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Arizona, USA

Senior Editor Emeritus
Dr Steven Schelkun,  AO North America, USA
Prof George Youngson, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland

Associate Editors
Prof Walter Biffl, Scripps Memorial Hospital, USA
Prof Markus W Buechler, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Dr Jeffrey Galinkin, The Medical Center of Aurora, USA
Prof Christoph E Heyde, University Hospital Leipzig, Germany
Prof James Kellam, Carolinas Medical Center, USA
Dr Fernando Kim, Denver Health Medical Center, USA 
Prof Martin A Makary, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA 
Dr Claudia Medina, IPS Universitaria Clinica Leon XIII, Colombia
Prof Philip S Mehler, Eating Recovery Center, USA
Prof Ernest E Moore, Denver Health Medical Center, USA
Prof Hans-Christoph Pape, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Prof Rodrigo Pesántez, Universidad de los Andes Bogotá, Colombia
Dr Carlos Rodriguez, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, USA
Prof Andrew H Schmidt, Minnesota University, USA
Dr Andie Slivinski, Mission Health, USA
Dr Jeffrey Smith, Orthopaedic Trauma & Fracture Specialist Medical Corp, USA
Prof Wade R Smith, Swedish Medical Center, USA
Prof Adam Starr, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, USA
Prof Charles Vincent, University of Oxford, UK
Dr Boris A. Zelle, University of Texas Health, USA
Prof Bruce Ziran, Hughston Clinic at Gwinnett Medical Center, USA


Statistical Advisors
Dr Stefan Sauerland, Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG), Germany
Dr Allison E Williams, Bay Pines VA Health Care System, USA

Editorial Board
Prof Fernando Baldy dos Reis, UNIFESP-Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
Prof Jeffrey Barkun, McGill University Health Center, Canada
Dr Nathan C Butler, University of California Davis, USA
Dr. Bayley E. Clarke, Georgetown University, USA
Dr Ted Clarke, Colorado Physician Insurance Companies (COPIC), USA
Prof Nicolas Demartines, University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), Switzerland
Dr Johannes Fakler, University of Leipzig, Germany
Prof Beat Gloor, University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr Andrew Grose, Westchester Medical Center, USA 
Prof Dieter Hahnloser, University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), Switzerland
Prof Jiandong Hao, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
Prof Kirk Hogan, University of Wisconsin, USA
Prof Markus Huber-Lang, University of Ulm, Germany
Dr Kyros Ipaktchi, Denver Health Medical Center, USA
Dr Thilo John, DRK Hospital Berlin-Westend, Germany 
Dr Jeffrey L Johnson, Henry Ford Hospital, USA
Prof Jeffry Kashuk, Tel Aviv University-Sackler School of Medicine, Israel
Prof Christian K Lackner, LMU University, Germany
Dr Geeta Lal, University of Iowa, USA
Dr Alan Lembitz, Colorado Physician Insurance Companies (COPIC), USA
Prof Matthias Majetschak, Loyola University, USA
Dr Timothy Moore, MetroHealth Medical Center, USA
Dr John Mukhopadhaya, Mukhopadhaya Orthopaedic Clinic, India
Prof Giuseppe Nigri, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Dr Lena Nilsson, Linköping University Hospital, Sweden
Dr Fredric Pieracci, Denver Health Medical Center, USA
Dr Andrew Robson, University of Edinburgh, UK
Dr Jeffrey Varnell, Colorado Physician Insurance Companies (COPIC), USA
Dr Ryan Will, Olympia Orthopaedic Association, USA
Dr Gerald Zarlengo, Colorado Physician Insurance Companies, USA