The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) National Database is a voluntary clinical registry created to facilitate a national quality improvement and safety initiative for cardiac surgery. This progressive initiative led to one of the earliest attempts to provide surgeons with nationally benchmarked, risk-adjusted outcomes. The database (Box) is now also used to facilitate the public reporting of outcomes and clinical research. It consists of 3 components, each focusing on a separate type of cardiothoracic surgery: adult cardiac surgery (established 1989), congenital heart surgery (1994), and general thoracic surgery (2002). Since 1999, the STS has contracted the Duke Clinical Research Institute to warehouse the data, conduct statistical analyses, and provide participants with performance reports.

胸外科医师协会（STS）国家数据库是自愿临床注册机构，旨在促进心脏外科手术的国家质量改善和安全性倡议。这种进步的举措导致了最早为外科医生提供以国家为基准，经过风险调整的结果的尝试之一。现在，该数据库（框）还用于促进结果和临床研究的公共报告。它由3个部分组成，每个部分专注于一种单独的心胸外科手术类型：成人心脏外科手术（成立于1989年），先天性心脏外科手术（1994年）和普通胸腔外科手术（2002年）。自1999年以来，STS已与杜克临床研究所签约，以将数据存储，进行统计分析并向参与者提供绩效报告。