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Safety in Spine Surgery Project, S3P—Overview

Safety in Spine Surgery Summit

Introduction

Founded and directed by the Safety in Spine Surgery Project (S3P), and chaired by Michael Vitale, MD, the goal of this project is to improve safety in spine surgery by sharing guidelines, techniques, and protocols that make care better, and to share lessons learned from participants who developed specific, successful safety protocols.

This will be accomplished by the partnership of S3P with surgeons, medical professionals, medical device companies, and hospitals.

Over time the S3P project will help improve the statistics showing high numbers of medical and surgical errors that have recently been highlighted by US government agencies, medical societies, patient groups, and throughout the media. These errors cause unnecessary human suffering, damage the reputation of the medical community, and dramatically increase costs.

History of The Safety in Spine Surgery Project

Dr. Vitale founded The Safety in Spine Surgery Project (S3P) in 2016 to help improve safety in spine surgery across the nation. The mission of S3P is to identify ways to enhance the safety and sustainability of spine surgery and work with stakeholders in spine surgery, including but not limited to patients, providers, payers, and purchasers, to prevent harm. S3P hosts the annual Spine Safety Summit which brings spine surgeons from around the world to New York to learn about the latest ways to improve culture, create dedicated teams, and follow best practices to make spine surgery safe.