ABSTRACT
Introduction Evaluation of surgery can be defined as a rigorous assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of interventions both in the short and long term and this process is important for surgeons, patients and health service providers. Evaluation may involve audit or research methods, and both can improve the quality of care for patients because capturing data about outcomes, and making information available to key stakeholders means that action and collective responsibility can be taken for the results. Whatever the type of study design used to evaluate surgery it will be necessary to choose, measure and report outcomes which are defined as endpoints that gauge the effectiveness of an intervention. Both the design of the study and the selection and measurement of the particular outcomes are, therefore, of critical importance to inform practice.
