Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Background: The journey of minimally invasive (MI) urology is one of quality improvement and patient safety. New techniques have been progressively studied for adoption and growth. As more advanced methods of data collection and analysis are developed, a review of the patterns and history of these principles in the development of minimally invasive urology can inform future urological QI and patient safety initiatives. Objective: To perform a scoping review identifying patterns of quality improvement and patient safety in MI urology. Methods: PubMed and the American Urological Association (AUA) journal search page were screened to December 2022 for publications using the search parameters "quality improvement" and "minimally invasive." Articles were screened according to the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Results: The initial literature search identified 471 articles from PubMed and 57 from the AUA journal search page. After screening, 528 articles were relevant to the topic and reviewed. 482 articles were duplicates or did not meet inclusion criteria. 46 are included in this review. Conclusion: Urology has developed a pattern of accessing MI surgery versus the open counterpart. This includes analyzing the newest approach to understand complications, examining the factors contributing to complications, and lastly designing projects to mitigate future risk. This information as well as advanced methods of data collection have identified areas of improvement for new quality improvement projects. The stage is set for a promising future with the adoption of advanced QI in daily urologic practice to improve patient safety and minimize errors. Keywords: minimally invasive surgery, urology, evidence-based surgical guidelines, quality improvement, patient safety, preoperative outcomes, perioperative outcomes, postoperative outcomes, scoping review