Measuring the complexity and uncertainty of surgery and postsurgical care

This article reports the results of a survey of a nationwide sample of more than 900 surgeons and post-surgical nurses, who were asked to rate the relative complexity and uncertainty of 71 surgical procedures frequently performed in hospitals. Average scores assigned to each surgical procedure by both types of raters are reported and the extent of agreement is assessed across indicator questions and types of raters. A surprisingly high level of agreement was observed. Explanations for the extent of agreement are discussed and uses for these scores are described.