Playing by the numbers: how collecting outcomes data changed by life

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Clinical Epidemiology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• The Northern New England Cardiovascular Study Group (NNECOS) analyzes cardiac surgical outcomes.
• Key questions address surgeon performance, patient prognosis, and care improvement through data collection.
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) cardiac surgery program integrated regional data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of integrating regional outcomes data with internal quality improvement initiatives at DHMC.
• To assess the effectiveness of critical pathways and data display techniques in enhancing cardiac surgical care.
• To determine changes in length of stay, mortality, and readmission rates post-implementation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized clinical epidemiology to analyze outcomes data from NNECOS.
• Implemented critical pathways and evaluated patient expectations, satisfaction, and functional health.
• Employed innovative data display techniques for performance monitoring.

Main Results:

• The length of stay for cardiac surgical patients has declined.
• Mortality rates among cardiac surgery patients remained stable.
• Readmission rates for cardiac surgery patients remained stable.

Conclusions:

• Integrating regional outcomes data with internal quality improvement strategies can enhance cardiac surgical care delivery.
• Critical pathways and data visualization are effective tools for improving patient outcomes.
• Sustained stable mortality and readmission rates alongside reduced length of stay indicate successful quality improvement efforts.