Article
Quality assurance through documentation – Oncological quality management in testicular cancer care
Search Medline for
Authors
Published: | March 20, 2006 |
---|
Outline
Text
Background: Testicular cancerhas alow incidence in male, but is the most frequent malign tumour among males aged 20 to 40. Despite good prognosis, there is a lack of concepts for region-wide quality assurance. We have developed a database for documentation and quality management throughout all stages of treatment. With the goals of continuous improvement of therapeutic quality and identification of weak points in care, multicentric data has been collected since October 2003 and encompasses course of disease, survival rates and different therapeutic strategies for testicular cancer. This study ist directed by the Tumor Zentrum Berlin.
Methods: Each step of diagnostic and therapeutics procedures have been documentated using an Internet-based platform, http://hodentumore.de. Each clinic’s access is limited to the data of patients in their care. Apart from documentation of clinically relevant parameters associated with the intervention, the proceeding is classified (in accordance with guidelines, study, individual decision by the therapist).
Results: Ten urologic clinics in Berlintook part in the documentation. 382 patients were filed, an average of 40 patients per clinic. Diagnosis, therapy and staging of patients was documented extensively. Follow-up data are still too limited for analysis.
Conclusions: Sound and reliable quality indicators are prerequisites for quality control. The first round of data analysis has established the database’s suitability for daily operation. Having successfully introduced, tested and evaluated the documentation, the next step will be the establishment of a monitoring group that will check the collected data for accordance with guidelines.