Administration and data collection

Summary

Management of data relating to interventional procedures includes the documentation and reporting of important aspects of care pertinent to procedure details including outcomes, and has implications on reimbursement and quality assurance. The continuous collection of data for the purpose of quality assessment is an essential part of clinical governance, and the standardisation of data definitions allows the integration between various quality improvement initiatives, including clinical registries. Quality indicators (QIs) have emerged as tools to measure performance and patient outcomes, because they facilitate the public-reporting of data in an intuitive, yet scientific format designed to benchmark quality of care.. Datasets for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are standardised on a national level, with ongoing efforts to harmonise registries internationally. The collection of ‘real world’ registry data provides important additional information to that garnered from randomised controlled trials, and both underpin research and efforts to improve patient care.

Introduction

The collection of data that arise from any interventional procedure is a key element of quality assurance. In addition, there are important administrative and practical issues within any interventional department. In most centres there will be software designed to capture interventional data running on the catheter laboratory computers. The extent and functionality of...