[Transferabilty of study results in routine health care: non-pharmacological interventions (surgery)]

In surgery, too, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are the scientific method of choice for proving the effectiveness of a new intervention or the superiority of an innovative technique over an established one. However, there are particular challenges in surgical studies regarding the equality of structure, of treatments and observation in the study groups. The design of valid study protocols in surgery is very complex, which is the reason for the relatively small number of high-quality RCTs in surgical literature. Pragmatic studies offer a promising approach to the implementation of surgical innovations in health care. The German Society of Surgeons supports the conduct of multicentre clinical studies by providing the relevant structures (study centre, multicentre network CHIR-Net). Good clinical and comparative health care effectiveness research in surgery also needs stronger academic appreciation as a career incentive for young academic surgeons.