QUIP
Advancing improvements in clinical outcomes Driving quality improvement in cardiothoracic surgery is a significant part of EACTS’ work. The Quality Improvement Programme (QUIP) works with participating centres across Europe to promote the importance of integrating quality improvement initiatives into daily clinical practice. The European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS), part of the EACTS Quality Improvement Programme, offers the tools to collect clinical procedural updates and scientific data for patients receiving Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS). Currently, there are 70 centres contributing data to EUROMACS. The data collected are made available for research purposes to assess patient outcomes and benchmark these outcomes with all participating centres. It is therefore critical to the success and integrity of the registry that the data provided by each centre are high quality and reliable. Dr. Antonio Loforte from the S. Orsola University Hospital, IRCCS Bologna, Italy, one of the participating centres in the EUROMACS registry, discusses his experience of the QUIP audit and outlines why it is a privilege to be involved in EUROMACS
The volume of MCS procedures carried out across Europe is the largest in the world. As a result, EUROMACS is an extremely significant registry. What makes EUROMACS data so unique is not just the number of cases but also the variety of devices adopted. Policlinico Sant’Orsola-Malpighi has been part of the EUROMACS registry for several years and it is both a privilege and opportunity to be involved. It’s important for our reputation and also for our visibility within the cardiothoracic community.
The relationship between the Quality Improvement Programme and the participating centres is collaborative and as such we welcome the audit process. It helps to guarantee the quality of our data and demonstrates our commitment to transparency. The audit is beneficial not just for database managers but also for clinicians, surgeons and cardiologists. The feedback received at the end of the audit is hugely helpful; providing suggestions on how we can enhance our data entry and improve variables. Data entry should be quick, fluid and correct. If we don’t get it right, the impact could be considerable. It is for the benefit of the scientific community and our patients that we need to be confident we are providing high quality data to the EUROMACS registry. Theo de By, EUROMACS Managing Director, discusses how the Quality Improvement Programme works closely with participating centres to help improve systems and processes with the ultimate aim of securing better outcomes for patients
Our onsite audits help determine the quality of the data and include a review of a random sample of 10-20 patients to compare the hospital medical administration data with EUROMACS Registry data, looking for any differences between the two data sets. We ascertain whether there is a specific individual who is responsible for inputting the data and if there is a methodical approach in place to ensure regular updates of data. After the visit, I prepare a draft audit report for approval of the participating centre, which includes recommendations that are designed to improve the centre’s data. These recommendations are followed up after a few weeks. The data audits are a collaborative process between the EACTS and the participating centres. For example, a recent audit revealed that one of the participating centres didn’t always have cause of death data available so we discussed ways to ensure this data could be retrieved in the future. We work together to achieve the same goal of driving quality improvement in cardiothoracic surgery.
For more information about the EACTS Quality Improvement Programme click here 3
