Surgical outcomes database is incomplete and unreliable

Increasing public accountability of the medical profession requires healthcare outcomes to be made public. Fine and colleagues (p 25) found that the database of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland was incomplete and unreliable on many variables. After a period of monitoring, validation, and feedback in 10 centres, completeness of thedatabase improved significantly, but the overall reliability of data improved only marginally. Before sensitive healthcare outcomes are released to the public, ongoing independent validation of such databases is essential.

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Relevant Article

How to evaluate and improve the quality and credibility of an outcomes database: validation and feedback study on the UK Cardiac Surgery Experience

Leon G Fine, Bruce E Keogh, Shan Cretin, Maria Orlando, and Mairi M Gould
BMJ 2003 326: 25-28. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]