Are clinicians using routinely collected data to drive practice improvement? A cross-sectional survey

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Clinical Registries
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Clinical registry participation is a key indicator of healthcare quality.
• There is limited understanding of Australian hospitals' engagement with clinical registries and their use in quality improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess participation in clinical registries across Australian hospitals.
• To determine if registry data are utilized for quality improvement initiatives.
• To identify factors enabling registry participation and educational needs for clinicians to enhance data-driven practice change.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to registry coordinators in seven New South Wales hospitals.
• The survey included international, national, and state-based clinical, condition/disease-specific, and device/product registries.
• A 70% response rate was achieved, with 64% of respondents contributing data to 46 registries.

Main Results:

• Registry data were primarily accessed by nurses, with limited visibility to hospital executives.
• Less than half of respondents consistently used registry data for practice improvement or care pathway modifications.
• Protected time for data collection and benchmarking were identified as key facilitators for participation.
• A majority of participants agreed that training in clinical practice improvement and evidence-practice gap identification would optimize data utilization.

Conclusions:

• Clinical registry data are often confined to local units and not systematically leveraged for quality improvement.
• Recommendations include centralized funding, integrated information systems, and education in data-driven improvement science to foster quality initiatives.