TECLA-an innovative technical approach for prostate cancer registries

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Health Informatics
• Surgical Quality Improvement

Background:

• Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) requires robust data collection for research and quality control.
• Existing methods may be cumbersome, leading to incomplete datasets.
• A need exists for efficient, integrated data capture systems in urological surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the TECLA (TrEated with robotic-assisted radiCaL prostAtectomy) electronic database.
• To demonstrate its utility for research, quality control, and national registry data submission.
• To highlight its seamless integration with electronic medical records.

Main Methods:

• Developed a code-driven electronic database (TECLA) at Innlandet Hospital.
• Extracted clinical data directly from structured electronic medical records (EMR).
• Collected patient-reported outcome and experience measures (PROMs/PREMs) via digital devices (iPad/smartphone).

Main Results:

• TECLA successfully registered 182 out of 200 RARP patients (91% consent rate).
• High completion rates for PROMs (97% pre-treatment, 91% at 3 months) and PREMs (78%).
• Clinical variables demonstrated over 95% completeness for hospital stay and 6-week follow-up.

Conclusions:

• The TECLA system is an efficient, user-friendly electronic surgical quality register.
• It achieves high data capture rates with minimal additional workload for clinicians.
• The adaptable design is suitable for implementation in other hospitals and surgical procedures.