Conceptual model for the evaluation of failure to rescue. In this model, there are two pathways a postoperative patient can follow: (1) eventual discharge or (2) death. In the case of the former, the patient can either progress to discharge in an uncomplicated fashion or can have one or more postoperative complications that are identified and treated and from which the patient recovers. In the case of the latter, the complications are not successfully identified and/or treated, and the patient progresses to death. Adapted in part from Ghaferi AA: Variation in mortality after high-risk cancer surgery: Failure to rescue. Surg Oncol Clin N Am 2012; 21:389–95.