British Military surgical key performance indicators: time for an update?

Area of Science:

• Military medicine
• Trauma surgery
• Healthcare quality assessment

Background:

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are crucial for evaluating healthcare against established standards.
• Previous KPIs have been developed for deployed military surgical settings.
• This study focuses on surgical trauma care at Role 3 Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the overall performance of surgical trauma care using existing Defence Medical Services (DMS) KPIs.
• To assess the utility and applicability of these surgical KPIs.
• To provide recommendations for future improvements in military surgical trauma care review.

Main Methods:

• Prospective data collection on 22 surgical parameters for 150 injured patients.
• Data gathered between May 1 and August 20, 2013, at Camp Bastion.
• Utilized the Joint Theatre Trauma Register for additional patient information.

Main Results:

• Median data recording was 100%, with median applicability at 56% and median compliance at 78%.
• Eleven KPIs showed over 80% compliance; five had 60-80% compliance; five had less than 60% compliance.
• One KPI was not applicable to any patient in the study cohort.

Conclusions:

• The 78% compliance rate offers a snapshot of military surgical trauma care performance in 2013.
• KPIs effectively identify areas needing enhanced service delivery.
• Future KPI development should be evidence-based, incorporate stakeholder input, and undergo iterative refinement.