Club, noun (klub): an association or organization dedicated to a particular interest or activity.
Oxford online dictionary1
Surgical outcomes research for a better part of the last half-century was stereotyped as work that surgeons carried out on nights and weekends, resulting in case reports or case series. Indeed, the most highly cited outcomes articles in surgery during the 1980s were characterized by simple methods, descriptive analyses, and single-center experiences.2 By the 1990s, however, a growing number of surgeons in the United States were working to dispel these stereotypes. A critical mass of surgeon-scientists appreciated the need to apply to surgical outcomes research the same rigorous methods being used by their counterparts in medicine. These methods included the use of decision sciences, large population analyses, informatics, and health service research approaches to critically examine and improve the quality of surgical care.