Collaborative quality improvement in the congenital heart defects: development of the assist consortium and a preliminary surgical outcomes report

Abstract Objective: ASSIST is the first Brazilian initiative in building a collaborative quality improvement program in pediatric cardiology and congenital heart disease. The purposes of this manuscript are: (a) to describe the development of the ASSIST project, including the historical, philosophical, organizational, and infrastructural components that will facilitate collaborative quality improvement in congenital heart disease care; (b) to report past and ongoing challenges faced; and (c) to report the first preliminary data analysis. Methods: A total of 614 operations were prospectively included in a comprehensive online database between September 2014 and December 2015 in two participating centers. Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS) 1 and Aristotle Basic Complexity (ABC) scores were obtained. Descriptive statistics were provided, and the predictive values of the two scores for mortality were calculated by multivariate logistic regression models. Results: Many barriers and challenges were faced and overcome. Overall mortality was 13.4%. Independent predictors of in-hospital death were: RACHS-1 categories (3, 4, and 5/6), ABC level 4, and age group (≤ 30 days, and 30 days - 1 year). Conclusion: The ASSIST project was successfully created over a solid base of collaborative work. The main challenges faced, and overcome, were lack of institutional support, funding, computational infrastructure, dedicated staff, and trust. RACHS-1 and ABC scores performed well in our case mix. Our preliminary outcome analysis shows opportunities for improvement.

La casuística como pedagogía para enseñar la Bioética / Casuistics as pedagogy to teach Bioethics

Aunque la gran mayoría de los procesos educativos de enseñanza­ aprendizaje en Medicina deben seguir una metodología y estar regidos por la Didáctica, no siempre esto es adecuado desde el punto de vista de la Bioética. El propósito de la educación en bioética es el desarrollo de la habilidad de tomar decisiones, no solamente el dominio de conocimientos y saberes. Tomar decisiones requiere práctica en la balanza de varias consideraciones, no de manera deductiva, sino desde una perspectiva personal. Por lo tanto los autores de este artículo consideran que la casuística, como metodología de la enseñanza de la Bioética, es más apropiada que el principialismo. Se incluye aquí una introducción breve a la pedagogía casuística (AU).

Even though most of the teaching-learning educative processes in Medicine should follow a methodology and are ruled by Didactics, this is not always right from the Bioethics point of view. The purpose of the education in bioethics is the development of taking-decisions skills, not only in the domains of knowledge and learning. Taking decisions requires practice in allowing for several considerations, not in a deductive way, but from a personal perspective. Therefore, the authors of this article consider that casuistics, as methodology of Bioethics pedagogy, is more appropriated than principialism. It is included here a brief introduction to casuistic pedagogy (AU).

Analysis of surgical mortality for congenital heart defects using rachs-1 risk score in a brazilian single center

ABSTRACT Introduction: Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery 1 (RACHS-1) score is a simple model that can be easily applied and has been widely used for mortality comparison among pediatric cardiovascular services. It is based on the categorization of several surgical palliative or corrective procedures, which have similar mortality in the treatment of congenital heart disease. Objective: To analyze the in-hospital mortality in pediatric patients (<18 years) submitted to cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease based on RACHS-1 score, during a 12-year period. Methods: A retrospective date analysis was performed from January 2003 to December 2014. The survey was divided in two periods of six years long each, to check for any improvement in the results. We evaluated the numbers of procedures performed, complexity of surgery and hospital mortality. Results: Three thousand and two hundred and one surgeries were performed. Of these, 3071 were able to be classified according to the score RACHS-1. Among the patients, 51.7% were male and 47.5% were younger than one year of age. The most common RACHS-1 category was 3 (35.5%). The mortality was 1.8%, 5.5%, 14.9%, 32.5% and 68.6% for category 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, respectively. There was a significant increase in the number of surgeries (48%) and a significant reduction in the mortality in the last period analysed (13.3% in period I and 10.4% in period II; P=0.014). Conclusion: RACHS-1 score was a useful score for mortality risk in our service, although we are aware that other factors have an impact on the total mortality.

Clasificación según nivel de morbilidad e intensidad del uso de recursos de una población con patologías crónicas en Atención Primaria de Salud utilizando “Adjusted Clinical Groups” (ACG) / Adjusted Clinical Groups Method (ACG) to allocate resources according to the disease burden of each health center

Background: Health care must be provided with strong primary health care models, emphasizing prevention and a continued, integrated and interdisciplinary care. Tools should be used to allow a better planning and more efficient use of resources. Aim: To assess risk adjustment methodologies, such as the Adjusted Clinical Groups (ACG) developed by The Johns Hopkins University, to allow the identification of chronic condition patterns and allocate resources accordingly. Material and Methods: We report the results obtained applying the ACG methodology in primary care systems of 22 counties for three chronic diseases, namely Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension and Heart Failure. Results: The outcomes show a great variability in the prevalence of these conditions in the different health centers. There is also a great diversity in the use of resources for a given condition in the different health care centers. Conclusions: This methodology should contribute to a better distribution of health care resources, which should be based on the disease burden of each health care center.

Impact of wildfire smoke in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on ocular surface / Efeitos da fumaça de incêndios na superfície ocular em Buenos Aires, Argentina

Purpose: To evaluate the acute impact of the wildfire smoke episode in 2008 on the ocular surface of subjects living in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (MABA). Methods: A total of 86 subjects were evaluated: Group 1 comprised patients from a public ophthalmology hospital (N=35) and Group 2 comprised healthy volunteers (N=51). All subjects answered a questionnaire on ocular symptoms and underwent ophthalmologic examination [bulbar conjunctival hyperemia, corneal fluorescein staining, rose bengal vital staining, tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer I test, tear lysozyme, and impression cytology] during and after the acute episode. Concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter (PM) were measured before, during, and after the acute episode. Results: Both groups showed a statically significant increase in ocular symptoms and bulbar conjunctival hyperemia and a statically significant decrease in tear break-up time during the acute episode. Group 1 showed more severe symptoms and a statistically significant increase in fluorescein and rose bengal staining intensities during the acute episode. We found a significant negative correlation between ocular symptoms and tear break-up time. During the episode, the levels of CO, NO2, and particulate matter in MABA were four times higher than the usual average levels for the same period in 2007 and 2009. Conclusions: Increased air pollution from the burning of biomass is associated with a decrease in the stability of the tear film (TBUT), generating areas of ocular surface exposure that may be the cause of the increased feeling of irritation. Group 1 was more affected by not having a healthy ocular surface, and thus consulted an ophthalmologist. Cytological changes in the conjunctiva were not observed, which could be due to the short duration of the episode. .

Objetivo: Avaliar os efeitos agudos da fumaça do episódio de incêndio violento ocorrido em 2008, sobre a superfície ocular de sujeitos que vivem na Região Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (MABA). Métodos: Um total de 86 indivíduos foram avaliados: Grupo 1: pacientes de um hospital público de oftalmologia (N=35) e Grupo 2: voluntários saudáveis (N=51). Todos os participantes responderam a um questionário sobre os sintomas oculares e foram submetidos a exame oftalmológico (hiperemia conjuntival bulbar, teste de fluoresceína, corante rosa bengala, tempo de ruptura do filme lacrimal (TBUT), teste de Schirmer I, lisozima lacrimal e citologia de impressão) durante e após o episódio agudo. As concentrações de monóxido de carbono, dióxido de nitrogênio e partículas (PM) foram medidas antes, durante e após o episódio agudo. Resultados: Ambos os grupos apresentaram aumento estatisticamente significativo dos sintomas oculares, hiperemia conjuntival bulbar, e diminuição estatisticamente significativa no tempo de ruptura do filme lacrimal durante o episódio agudo. Grupo 1 apresentou maior intensidade dos sintomas e aumento estatisticamente significativo no teste de fluoresceína e rosa bengala durante o episódio agudo. Encontramos uma correlação negativa significativa entre os sintomas oculares e tempo de ruptura do filme lacrimal. Durante o episódio agudo de 2008, os níveis de CO, NO2 e PM na Região Metropolitana de Buenos Aires foram 4 vezes maiores do que os níveis médios habituais para o mesmo período de 2007 e 2009. Conclusões: O aumento da poluição do ar a partir da queima de biomassa está associado a uma diminuição da estabilidade do filme lacrimal (TBUT) gerando zonas da exposição da superfície ocular, que podem ser a causa do aumento da sensação de irritação. Grupo 1 foi mais afetado por não ter superfície ocular saudável e, portanto, consultaram um oftalmologista. Mudanças citológicas da conjuntiva não foram observadas e isso poderia ser devido ...

Stratification of complexity in congenital heart surgery: comparative study of the Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) method, Aristotle basic score and Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio- Thoracic Surgery (STS-EACTS) mortality score / Estratificação da complexidade em cirurgias de cardiopatias congênitas: comparação dos modelos Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1), escore básico de Aristóteles e escore de mortalidade da Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (STS-EACTS)

Abstract Objective: To determine whether stratification of complexity models in congenital heart surgery (RACHS-1, Aristotle basic score and STS-EACTS mortality score) fit to our center and determine the best method of discriminating hospital mortality. Methods: Surgical procedures in congenital heart diseases in patients under 18 years of age were allocated to the categories proposed by the stratification of complexity methods currently available. The outcome hospital mortality was calculated for each category from the three models. Statistical analysis was performed to verify whether the categories presented different mortalities. The discriminatory ability of the models was determined by calculating the area under the ROC curve and a comparison between the curves of the three models was performed. Results: 360 patients were allocated according to the three methods. There was a statistically significant difference between the mortality categories: RACHS-1 (1) - 1.3%, (2) - 11.4%, (3)-27.3%, (4) - 50 %, (P<0.001); Aristotle basic score (1) - 1.1%, (2) - 12.2%, (3) - 34%, (4) - 64.7%, (P<0.001); and STS-EACTS mortality score (1) - 5.5 %, (2) - 13.6%, (3) - 18.7%, (4) - 35.8%, (P<0.001). The three models had similar accuracy by calculating the area under the ROC curve: RACHS-1- 0.738; STS-EACTS-0.739; Aristotle- 0.766. Conclusion: The three models of stratification of complexity currently available in the literature are useful with different mortalities between the proposed categories with similar discriminatory capacity for hospital mortality. .

Resumo Objetivo: Verificar se os modelos de estratificação da complexidade em cirurgias de cardiopatias congênitas atualmente disponíveis (RACHS-1, escore básico de Aristóteles e escore de mortalidade do STS-EACTS) se adequam ao nosso serviço, determinando o de melhor acurácia em discriminar a mortalidade hospitalar. Métodos: Procedimentos em pacientes menores de 18 anos foram alocados nas categorias propostas pelos modelos de estratificação da complexidade. O desfecho de mortalidade hospitalar foi calculado para cada categoria dos três modelos. Análise estatística foi realizada para verificar se as categorias apresentavam distintas mortalidades dentro de cada modelo. A capacidade discriminatória dos modelos foi determinada pelo cálculo de área sob a curva ROC e uma comparação entre as curvas dos três modelos foi realizada. Resultados: 360 pacientes foram alocados pelos três modelos. Houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre as mortalidades das categorias propostas pelos modelos de RACHS-1 (1) - 1,3%, (2) - 11,4%, (3) - 27,3%, (4) - 50%, (P<0,001); escore básico de Aristóteles (1) - 1,1%, (2) - 12,2%, (3) - 34%, (4) - 64,7%, (P<0,001); e escore de mortalidade do STS-EACTS (1) - 5,5%, (2) - 13,6%, (3) - 18,7%, (4) - 35,8%, (P<0,001). Os três modelos tiveram semelhante capacidade discriminatória para o desfecho de mortalidade hospitalar pelo cálculo da área sob a curva ROC: RACHS-1- 0,738; STS-EACTS- 0,739; Aristóteles- 0,766. Conclusão: Os três modelos de estratificação da complexidade atualmente disponíveis na literatura tiveram utilidade com distintas mortalidades entre as categorias propostas, com semelhante capacidade discriminatória para o desfecho de mortalidade hospitalar. .

Una metodología para evaluación de servicios de salud con deudausando ajuste de riesgos con morbilidad / A methodology to evaluate indebted health authorities using diagnosis-based risk adjustment

En este trabajo se desarrolla una metodología de evaluación de Servicios de Salud en búsqueda de explicaciones a la deuda. Pretende abrir ámbitos de explicación, a través del estudio de perfiles de riesgos de personas atendidas a nivel hospitalario en cada Servicio de Salud y la construcción de índices de eficiencia relativa. El trabajo tiene un carácter ilustrativo y pretende resaltar la metodología. De los ocho Servicios de Salud con deuda considerados, cinco presentan gastos esperados de sus pacientes superiores al promedio y son los únicos cinco, del grupo de 17 Servicios de Salud considerados, en esta situación. Esto implica que, en general, los Servicios de salud con deuda muestran gastos esperados superiores que los Servicios de Salud sin deuda. A su vez, 5 Servicios de Salud con deuda justifican sus gastos observados y se desempeñan de manera relativamente eficiente. Sin embargo, tres de ellos arrojan como resultados un indicador que muestra ineficiencia relativa. La metodología se muestra robusta a la hora de comparar Servicios de Salud, dado que permite homogeneizar su producción, al ajustar por riesgos de la población atendida a nivel hospitalario. No obstante, para ser más precisos ella puede ser mejorada en varios aspectos que se señalan.

The present study aims at developing a methodology to explain deficits in different Chilean Health Authorities in Chile. It intends to make comparable the Health Authorities by studying the diverse risk and hence casemix of the different Health Authorities, this resulting in different degrees of efficiency. The present study case is used illustratively being the centre of the research the proposed methodology. The results show that al least 5 of the more indebted HA are those with highest observed expenditures and functioning with relatively good degrees of efficiency in comparison to the rest of them. Despite the concrete results of the illustrative exercise, it is the robustness of the method to compare different Health Authorities the main result of the study. This robustness lies on the possibility of comparing Health Authorities and their populations, adjusting them by their risks and casemix.

Comorbidity adjustment index for the international classification of diseases, 10 / Índice de ajuste de comorbidade para a 10a revisão da classificação internacional de doenças / Índice de ajuste de co-morbilidad para la 10a revisión de la clasificación internacional de enfermedades

OBJECTIVE: To develop a Charlson-like comorbidity index based on clinical conditions and weights of the original Charlson comorbidity index. METHODS: Clinical conditions and weights were adapted from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision and applied to a single hospital admission diagnosis. The study included 3,733 patients over 18 years of age who were admitted to a public general hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, southeast Brazil, between Jan 2001 and Jan 2003. The index distribution was analyzed by gender, type of admission, blood transfusion, intensive care unit admission, age and length of hospital stay. Two logistic regression models were developed to predict in-hospital mortality including: a) the aforementioned variables and the risk-adjustment index (full model); and b) the risk-adjustment index and patient's age (reduced model). RESULTS: Of all patients analyzed, 22.3 percent had risk scores >1, and their mortality rate was 4.5 percent (66.0 percent of them had scores >1). Except for gender and type of admission, all variables were retained in the logistic regression. The models including the developed risk index had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.86 (full model), and 0.76 (reduced model). Each unit increase in the risk score was associated with nearly 50 percent increase in the odds of in-hospital death. CONCLUSIONS: The risk index developed was able to effectively discriminate the odds of in-hospital death which can be useful when limited information is available from hospital databases.

OBJETIVO: Desenvolver um índice de co-morbidade a partir das condições clínicas e dos pesos do índice de co-morbidade de Charlson. MÉTODOS: As condições clínicas e pesos do índice de Charlson foram adaptados segundo a Classificação Internacional de Doenças 10a Revisão, e aplicados ao diagnóstico principal de internação hospitalar. Foram estudados 3.733 pacientes acima de 18 anos hospitalizados em hospital geral público do município do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 2001-2003. A distribuição do índice foi de acordo com o gênero, tipo da admissão, presença de transfusão de sangue, admissão à unidade de terapia intensiva, idade e tempo de internação. Dois modelos de regressão logística foram desenvolvidos com o objetivo de prever a mortalidade hospitalar desses pacientes: a) com as variáveis acima e o índice de co-morbidade (modelo completo); e b) contendo apenas o índice e a idade dos pacientes (modelo reduzido). RESULTADOS: Dentre o total de pacientes analisados, 22,3 por cento possuíam escores >1 para o índice e sua taxa de mortalidade foi 4,5 por cento (66,0 por cento dos quais com escores >1). Exceto gênero e do tipo de admissão, todas as variáveis foram retidas na regressão. Os modelos tiveram uma área sob a curva característica ROC igual a 0,86 (modelo completo) e 0,76 (modelo reduzido). Cada aumento de uma unidade nos escores do índice foi associado com um aumento de quase 50 por cento na probabilidade de mortalidade hospitalar. CONCLUSÕES: O índice desenvolvido pôde discriminar probabilidades de mortalidade com uma eficácia aceitável, o que pode ser útil ao lidar-se com bancos de dados hospitalares com informação limitada.

OBJETIVO: Desarrollar un índice de co-morbilidad a partir de las condiciones clínicas y de los pesos de índice original de co-morbilidad de Charlson. MÉTODOS: Las condiciones clínicas y pesos del índice de Charlson fueron adaptados según la Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades - 10a Revisión, y aplicados al diagnóstico principal de internación hospitalaria. Fueron estudiados 3.733 pacientes arriba de 18 años hospitalizados en el hospital general público del municipio de Rio de Janeiro (sudeste de Brasil), de 2001-2003. La distribución del índice fue de acuerdo con el género, tipo de admisión, presencia de transfusión de sangre, admisión a la unidad de terapia intensiva, edad y tiempo de internación. Dos modelos de regresión logística fueron desarrollados con el objetivo de prevenir la mortalidad hospitalaria: a) con las variables arriba y el índice de co-morbilidad (modelo completo); y b) conteniendo solo el índice y la edad de los pacientes (modelo reducido). RESULTADOS: Dentro del total de pacientes analizados, 22,3 por ciento tuvieron puntajes >1 para el índice y su taza de mortalidad fue 4,5 por ciento (66,0 por ciento de los cuales con puntajes >1). A excepción del género y del tipo de admisión todas las variables fueron retenidas en la regresión. Los modelos tuvieron una área bajo la curva característica ROC igual a 0,86 (modelo completo) y 0,76 (modelo reducido). Cada aumento de una unidad en los puntajes del índice fue asociado con un aumento de casi 50 por ciento en la probabilidad de mortalidad hospitalaria. CONCLUSIONES: El índice desarrollado puede discriminar probabilidades de mortalidad con una eficacia aceptable, el que puede ser útil al ser usado con bancos de datos hospitalarios con información limitada.

Métodos de estratificación de riesgo en la cirugía de cardiopatías congénitas / Method for risk adjustment for surgery for congenital heart disease

In the last decades, systems have been developed to measure more efficiently and objectively the medical services offered to the community. For this purpose, patients are grouped according to their pathology to facilitate comparison of functionality, costs, and quality among groups. For congenital heart diseases and their surgical treatment we have methods to establish risk stratification (RACHS-1 and Aristotle), which have allowed us to predict the surgical results taking account the congenital heart disease, the kind of repair, as well as factors, such as weight, age, and associated anomalies. We believe that both systems complement each other and that they constitute a first step for Mexico to have a reliable database to allow making comparisons among results of the different health institutes. The purpose is to affect the institutional and national health policies and to assess an instrument that might serve for comparison with foreign specialized centers.

O escore de risco ajustado para cirurgia em cardiopatias congênitas (RACHS-1) pode ser aplicado em nosso meio? / Is the RACHS-1 (risk adjustment in congenital heart surgery) a useful tool in our scenario?

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a aplicabilidade do escore de risco ajustado para cirurgia de cardiopatias congênitas (RACHS1) como preditor de mortalidade em uma população pediátrica de um hospital público da região Nordeste do Brasil. MÉTODOS: No período de junho de 2001 a junho de 2004, 145 pacientes foram submetidos à correção de cardiopatia congênita em nossa instituição, dos quais 62 por cento eram do sexo feminino, a idade média era 5,1 anos. Foi utilizado o escore de RACHS-1 para classificar os procedimentos cirúrgicos em categorias de risco de 1 a 6, e a análise de regressão logística para identificar os fatores de risco associados à mortalidade. RESULTADOS: A idade, tipo de cardiopatia, fluxo pulmonar, tipo de cirurgia, tempo de circulação extracorpórea (CEC) e tempo de anóxia foram identificados como fatores de risco para mortalidade (p< 0,001). Houve correlação linear entre as categorias de risco do RACHS-1 e a taxa de mortalidade, entretanto, a mortalidade observada foi maior que a esperada por aquele sistema de escore. CONCLUSÕES: A despeito da facilidade de aplicação do RACHS-1, ele não pode ser aplicado em nosso meio por não contemplar outras variáveis presentes em nossa realidade que podem interferir no resultado cirúrgico.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the RACHS-1 (Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery) as a predictor of surgical mortality in a pediatric population of a public hospital of the Northeast of Brazil. METHODS: From June 2001 through June 2004, 145 patients undergone surgical treatment of CHD in our institution of whom 62 percent were female, and the mean age was 5.1 years. The RACHS-1 was used to classify the surgical procedures into categories of risk 1 to 6, and logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors related to surgical death. RESULTS: Age, type of CHD, pulmonary flow, surgical procedure, pump time and cross clamp time were identified as a risk factor for postoperative mortality (p<0.001). There was a linear correlation between the categories of the RACHS-1 and the mortality rate; however, the observed mortality was greater than the predicted figures by that scoring system. CONCLUSION: Although the RACHS-1 is easily applicable, it can not be applicable in our scenario because it takes into account only the surgical procedure as a categorized variable, not considering others factors presented in our scenario that could interfere in the final surgical result.