Deepening our understanding of quality improvement in Europe (DUQuE): overview of a study of hospital quality management in seven countries.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: This paper provides an overview of the DUQuE (Deepening our Understanding of Quality Improvement in Europe) project, the first study across multiple countries of the European Union (EU) to assess relationships between quality management and patient outcomes at EU level. The paper describes the conceptual framework and methods applied, highlighting the novel features of this study. DESIGN: DUQuE was designed as a multi-level cross-sectional study with data collection at hospital, pathway, professional and patient level in eight countries. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: We aimed to collect data for the assessment of hospital-wide constructs from up to 30 randomly selected hospitals in each country, and additional data at pathway and patient level in 12 of these 30. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A comprehensive conceptual framework was developed to account for the multiple levels that influence hospital performance and patient outcomes. We assessed hospital-specific constructs (organizational culture and professional involvement), clinical pathway constructs (the organization of care processes for acute myocardial infarction, stroke, hip fracture and deliveries), patient-specific processes and outcomes (clinical effectiveness, patient safety and patient experience) and external constructs that could modify hospital quality (external assessment and perceived external pressure). RESULTS: Data was gathered from 188 hospitals in 7 participating countries. The overall participation and response rate were between 75% and 100% for the assessed measures. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study assessing relation between quality management and patient outcomes at EU level. The study involved a large number of respondents and achieved high response rates. This work will serve to develop guidance in how to assess quality management and makes recommendations on the best ways to improve quality in healthcare for hospital stakeholders, payers, researchers, and policy makers throughout the EU.

Improving quality and patient safety in surgical care through standardisation and harmonisation of perioperative care (SAFEST project): A research protocol for a mixed methods study.

INTRODUCTION: Adverse events in health care affect 8% to 12% of patients admitted to hospitals in the European Union (EU), with surgical adverse events being the most common types reported. AIM: SAFEST project aims to enhance perioperative care quality and patient safety by establishing and implementing widely supported evidence-based perioperative patient safety practices to reduce surgical adverse events. METHODS: We will conduct a mixed-methods hybrid type III implementation study supporting the development and adoption of evidence-based practices through a Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative (QILC) in co-creation with stakeholders. The project will be conducted in 10 hospitals and related healthcare facilities of 5 European countries. We will assess the level of adherence to the standardised practices, as well as surgical complications incidence, patient-reported outcomes, contextual factors influencing the implementation of the patient safety practices, and sustainability. The project will consist of six components: 1) Development of patient safety standardised practices in perioperative care; 2) Guided self-evaluation of the standardised practices; 3) Identification of priorities and actions plans; 4) Implementation of a QILC strategy; 5) Evaluation of the strategy effectiveness; 6) Patient empowerment for patient safety. Sustainability of the project will be ensured by systematic assessment of sustainability factors and business plans. Towards the end of the project, a call for participation will be launched to allow other hospitals to conduct the self-evaluation of the standardized practices. DISCUSSION: The SAFEST project will promote patient safety standardized practices in the continuum of care for adult patients undergoing surgery. This project will result in a broad implementation of evidence-based practices for perioperative care, spanning from the care provided before hospital admission to post-operative recovery at home or outpatient facilities. Different implementation challenges will be faced in the application of the evidence-based practices, which will be mitigated by developing context-specific implementation strategies. Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and will be available in an online platform.

Data-Driven Collaboration between Hospitals and Other Healthcare Organisations in Europe During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study among Mid-Level Hospital Managers.

Introduction: Data and digital infrastructure drive collaboration and help develop integrated healthcare systems and services. COVID-19 induced changes to collaboration between healthcare organisations, which previously often happened in fragmented and competitive ways. New collaborative practices relied on data and were crucial in managing coordinated responses to the pandemic. In this study, we explored data-driven collaboration between European hospitals and other healthcare organisations in 2021 by identifying common themes, lessons learned and implications going forward. Methods: Study participants were recruited from an existing Europe-wide community of mid-level hospital managers. For data collection, we ran an online survey, conducted multi-case study interviews and organised webinars. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, thematic analysis and cross-case synthesis. Results: Mid-level hospital managers from 18 European countries reported an increase in data exchange between healthcare organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data-driven collaborative practices were goal-oriented and focused on the optimisation of hospitals' governance functions, innovation in organisational models and improvements to data infrastructure. This was often made possible by temporarily overcoming system complexities, which would otherwise hinder collaboration and innovation. Sustainability of these developments remains a challenge. Discussion: Mid-level hospital managers form a huge potential of reacting and collaborating when needed, including rapidly setting up novel partnerships and redefining established processes. Major post-COVID unmet medical needs are linked to hospital care provision, including diagnostic and therapeutic backlogs. Tackling these will require rethinking of the position of hospitals within healthcare systems, including their role in care integration. Conclusion: Learning from COVID-19-induced developments in data-driven collaboration between hospitals and other healthcare organisations is important to address systemic barriers, sustain resilience and further build transformative capacity to help build better integrated healthcare systems.

Why, what and how do European healthcare managers use performance data? Results of a survey and workshop among members of the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation.

Objective of this study was to better understand the use of performance data for evidence-based decision-making by managers in hospitals and other healthcare organisations in Europe in 2019. In order to explore why, what and how performance data is collected, reported and used, we conducted a cross-sectional study based on a self-reported online questionnaire and a follow-up interactive workshop. Our study population were participants of a pan-European professional Exchange Programme and their hosts (n = 125), mostly mid-level hospital managers. We found that a substantial amount of performance data is collected and reported, but could be utilised better for decision-making purposes. Motivation to collect and report performance data is equally internal and external, for improvement as well as for accountability purposes. Benchmarking between organisations is recognised as being important but is still underused. A plethora of different data sources are used, but more should be done on conceptualising, collecting, reporting and using patient-reported data. Managers working for privately owned organisations reported greater use of performance data than those working for public ones. Strategic levels of management use performance data more for justifying their decisions, while managers on operational and clinical levels use it more for day-to-day decision-making. Our study showed that, despite the substantial and increasing use of performance data for evidence-based management, there is room and need to further explore and expand its role in strategic decision-making and supporting a shift in healthcare from organisational accountability towards the model of learning organisations.

Towards optimal nutritional care for all: A multi-disciplinary patient centred approach to a complex challenge.

Ten years ago, European health care professional societies, health associations and members of the European Parliament convened in Brussels to discuss the necessary and urgent actions needed to improve access, initiation and follow up nutritional care for European citizens. As a response to this, in 2014 the Optimal Nutritional Care for All (ONCA) campaign was launched under the leadership of the European Nutritional for Health Alliance and its members. As of today this campaign has been rolled out in 18 European countries, whereby national multi-disciplinary platforms including patient groups work together to implement national nutritional care programs and develop good practices in care, research, education in order to increase awareness on malnutrition and improve nutritional care. This article describes the making of and evolution of the ONCA campaign, the outcomes and impact created, as well as opportunities to accelerate implementation of personalized nutritional care for all European citizens.

Bratislava Statement: consensus recommendations for improving pancreatic cancer care.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal tumours, and it is the fourth cause of cancer death in Europe. Despite its important public health impact, no effective treatments exist, nor are there high-visibility research efforts to improve care. This alarming situation is emblematic of a larger group of cancer diseases, known as neglected cancers. To address the impact of these diseases, the European Commission-supported Innovative Partnership for Action Against Cancer launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to determine key steps that healthcare systems can rapidly implement to improve their response. A working group comprising 20 representatives from European medical societies, patient associations, cancer plan organisations and other relevant European healthcare stakeholders was organised. A consensus process based on the results of different studies, discussion of research outcomes, and development and endorsement of draft statements resulted in 22 consensus recommendations (the Bratislava Statement). The statement argues that substantial improvements can be achieved in patient outcomes by centralising pancreatic cancer care around state-of-the-art reference centres, staffed by expert multidisciplinary teams capable of providing high-quality care. This organisational model requires a specific care framework encompassing primary, palliative and survivorship care, and a policy environment prioritising the use of quality criteria and performance assessments as well as research investments dedicated to prevention, risk prediction, early detection and diagnosis. In order to address the challenges posed by neglected cancers in general and pancreatic cancer in particular, a specific control strategy tailored to this reality is required.

Putting medical nutrition on to the international agenda: actions by the European Nutrition for Health Alliance.

In the European Union, most attention from the public, policymakers and health promotion campaigns in relation to nutrition is aimed at obesity. Until recently, this has overshadowed another facet of poor nutrition, whereby inadequate nutritional intake--often associated with disease--leads to weight loss, impaired body function and a poor clinical outcome. Malnutrition not only compromises health outcomes by impairing response to medical treatment, delaying recovery and increasing mortality, but also severely impacts on the economic and social burden to carers and healthcare systems. A group of stakeholders from across the European health arena recently formed the European Nutrition for Health Alliance (ENHA) in a united effort to raise awareness of the importance and the urgency of the issue of malnutrition and to build an agenda for action, both at European level and in individual countries.

Heart rate at admission is a predictor of in-hospital mortality in patients with acute coronary syndromes: Results from 58 European hospitals: The European Hospital Benchmarking by Outcomes in acute coronary syndrome Processes study.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between heart rate at admission and in-hospital mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). METHODS: Consecutive ACS patients admitted in 2008-2010 across 58 hospitals in six participant countries of the European Hospital Benchmarking by Outcomes in ACS Processes (EURHOBOP) project (Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Spain). Cardiogenic shock patients were excluded. Associations between heart rate at admission in categories of 10 beats per min (bpm) and in-hospital mortality were estimated by logistic regression in crude models and adjusting for age, sex, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, known heart failure, renal failure, previous stroke and ischaemic heart disease. In total 10,374 patients were included. RESULTS: In both STEMI and NSTE-ACS patients, a U-shaped relationship between admission heart rate and in-hospital mortality was found. The lowest risk was observed for heart rates between 70-79 bpm in STEMI and 60-69 bpm in NSTE-ACS; risk of mortality progressively increased with lower or higher heart rates. In multivariable models, the relationship persisted but was significant only for heart rates >80 bpm. A similar relationship was present in both patients with or without diabetes, above or below age 75 years, and irrespective of the presence of atrial fibrillation or use of beta-blockers. CONCLUSION: Heart rate at admission is significantly associated with in-hospital mortality in patients with both STEMI and NSTE-ACS. ACS patients with admission heart rate above 80 bpm are at highest risk of in-hospital mortality.

ICT Services for Life Improvement for the Elderly.

Integrated care ICT Platform to support patients, care-givers and health/social professionals in the care of dementia and Parkinson's disease with training, empowerment, sensor-based data analysis and cooperation services based on user-friendly interfaces.

Percutaneous coronary intervention reduces mortality in myocardial infarction patients with comorbidities: Implications for elderly patients with diabetes or kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) reduces mortality in most myocardial infarction (MI) patients but the effect on elderly patients with comorbidities is unclear. Our aim was to analyse the effect of PCI on in-hospital mortality of MI patients, by age, sex, ST elevation on presentation, diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: Cohort study of 79,791 MI patients admitted at European hospitals during 2000-2014. The effect of PCI on in-hospital mortality was analysed by age group (18-74, ≥75years), sex, presence of ST elevation, DM and CKD, using propensity score matching. The number needed to treat (NNT) to prevent a fatal event was calculated. Sensitivity analyses were conducted. RESULTS: PCI was associated with lower in-hospital mortality in ST and non-ST elevation MI (STEMI and NSTEMI) patients. The effect was stronger in men [Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 0.30 (0.25-0.35)] than in women [0.46 (0.39-0.54)] aged ≥75years, and in NSTEMI [0.22 (0.17-0.28)] than in STEMI patients [0.40 (0.31-0.5)] aged <75years. PCI reduced in-hospital mortality risk in patients with and without DM or CKD (54-72% and 52-73% reduction in DM and CKD patients, respectively). NNT was lower in patients with than without CKD [≥75years: STEMI=6(5-8) vs 9(8-10); NSTEMI=10(8-13) vs 16(14-20)]. Sensitivity analyses such as exclusion of hospital stays <2days yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS: PCI decreased in-hospital mortality in MI patients regardless of age, sex, and presence of ST elevation, DM and CKD. This supports the recommendation for PCI in elderly patients with DM or CKD.

European hospital reforms in times of crisis: aligning cost containment needs with plans for structural redesign?

Hospitals have become a focal point for health care reform strategies in many European countries during the current financial crisis. It has been called for both, short-term reforms to reduce costs and long-term changes to improve the performance in the long run. On the basis of a literature and document analysis this study analyses how EU member states align short-term and long-term pressures for hospital reforms in times of the financial crisis and assesses the EU's influence on the national reform agenda. The results reveal that there has been an emphasis on cost containment measures rather than embarking on structural redesign of the hospital sector and its position within the broader health care system. The EU influences hospital reform efforts through its enhanced economic framework governance which determines key aspects of the financial context for hospitals in some countries. In addition, the EU health policy agenda which increasingly addresses health system questions stimulates the process of structural hospital reforms by knowledge generation, policy advice and financial incentives. We conclude that successful reforms in such a period would arguably need to address both the organisational and financing sides to hospital care. Moreover, critical to structural reform is a widely held acknowledgement of shortfalls in the current system and belief that new models of hospital care can deliver solutions to overcome these deficits. Advancing the structural redesign of the hospital sector while pressured to contain cost in the short-term is not an easy task and only slowly emerging in Europe.

International differences in acute coronary syndrome patients' baseline characteristics, clinical management and outcomes in Western Europe: the EURHOBOP study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe current characteristics of patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Western Europe and to analyse whether international in-hospital mortality variations are explained by differences in patients' baseline characteristics and in clinical management. METHODS: We studied a population-based longitudinal cohort conducted in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Spain, and comprising 12 231 consecutive ACS patients admitted in 53 hospitals between 2008 and 2010. Baseline characteristics, clinical management and inhospital outcomes were recorded. Contextual effect of country on death was analysed through multilevel analysis. RESULTS: Of all patients included, 8221 (67.2%) had NSTEMI (non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction), and 4010 (32.8%) had STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction). Inhospital mortality ranged from 15.1% to 4.9% for German and Spanish STEMI patients, and from 6.8% to 1.9% for Finnish and French NSTEMI patients (p<0.001 for both). These international variations were explained by differences in patients' baseline characteristics (older patients more likely to have cardiogenic shock in Germany) and in clinical management, with differences in rates of thrombolysis (less performed in Germany) and primary percutaneous coronary intervention (high in Germany, low in Greece). A remaining contextual effect of country was identified after extensive adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Inhospital mortality rates of STEMI and NSTEMI patients were two to three times higher in Finland, Germany and Portugal than in Greece and Spain, with intermediate values for France. Differences in baseline characteristics and clinical management partly explain differences in outcome. Our data also suggest an impact of the healthcare system organisation.

Building European reference networks in health care: exploring concepts and national practices in the European Union

Under the European Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border health care, the development of European reference networks was promoted as one of the prime areas for cross-border cooperation among Member States. These networks are meant to improve access to and provision of high-quality specialized health care to those patients who need it, and to act as focal points for medical training and research, information dissemination and evaluation, especially for rare diseases. The idea of pooling resources in this way parallels moves to concentrate specialized health care services driven by financial constraints, workforce shortages and growing attention to quality and safety. This book examines the ways in which reference networks have developed in European countries, for what kind of medical conditions or interventions, the motivations behind their establishment, the regulatory and administrative processes involved, and the financial arrangements needed. This study outlines the key policy implications and challenges of developing the concept of reference networks at national and European levels, and will assist policy-makers, health professionals, administrators and others involved in implementing the Directive.