Karbase, a Danish register for vascular surgery is presented with data from four years experience. The register consists of 65 variables centered on risk factors, the perioperative course as well as follow-up information. During the four-year period 1989-1992 a total of 4902 admissions were registered in 3810 patients. Surgery was performed during 4005 admissions. Output data from Karbase is presented with results on survival and postoperative complications, related to preoperative risk factors. The incidence of surgical wound infections was 3.9%, with a significant reduction during the years (p = 0.004). Karbase is now used by all vascular surgical units in Denmark. We conclude that the establishment of a continuous registration has been beneficial to the department. We have achieved valid data on treatment, outcome and complications in relation to individual risk factors. In the future the use of Karbase will be extended with the aim of further quality development, locally as well as nation wide.
The Finnish National Programme for Chronic Bronchitis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) 1998-2007 was set up to reduce the prevalence of COPD, improve COPD diagnosis and care, reduce the number of moderate to severe cases of the disease, and reduce hospitalisations and treatment costs due to COPD. Over 900 events for 25,000 participating healthcare workers were arranged. The major strengths of this programme included multidisciplinary strategies and web-based guidelines in nearly all primary health care centres around the country.
Data from national registries, epidemiological studies and questionnaires were used to measure whether the goals had been reached.
The prevalence of COPD remained unchanged. Smoking decreased in males from 30% to 26% (p
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Comment In: Prim Care Respir J. 2011 Jun;20(2):109-1021603847
The aim of this study was quality assurance and to analyse the frequency of complications following thyroid surgery. The most dreaded surgical complications are permanent injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve or persistent hypocalcaemia. Our surgical procedure included the use of the surgical microscope in connection with thyroid grand surgery. Our materiel includes 122 patients who underwent surgery for benign thyroid diseases in our department from 1990-1996. In nearly 50% of all cases a lobectomy was performed, reserving resections and subtotal thyroidectomy to special cases. Resections were primarily done in the beginning of the period. The surgical microscope was used as a standard procedure to identify and expose the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the parathyroid glands. Primary thyroid grand surgery in benign disease resulted in permanent unilateral laryngeal nerve palsy in one case or in 0.83% of the patients. When calculated as nerves at risk, the complication rate was reduced to 0.67%. In benign completion surgery the complication rate was 0%. No patient developed persistent hypocalcaemia.
AACVPR/ACC/AHA 2007 performance measures on cardiac rehabilitation for referral to and delivery of cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention services endorsed by the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Sports Medicine, American Physical Therapy Association, Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation, European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, Inter-American Heart Foundation, National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
To test whether academic centers (ACs) are more successful than nonacademic centers (NACs) in immunohistochemistry (IHC) external quality assessment challenges in the Canadian Immunohistochemistry Quality Control (CIQC) program.
Results of 9 CIQC challenges for breast cancer marker (BM) and various non-breast cancer marker (NBM) tests were examined. Success rates were compared between AC/NAC laboratories and those located in small or large cities. Performance was also correlated with annual IHC case volumes.
There was no statistically significant difference in performance in any of the comparisons. However, overall performance on BM was significantly better (P
