Living Donor Committee Offers Multiple Resources for Improving Data Quality

[Clark]

http://communication.unos.org/2011/03/living-donor-committee-offers-multiple-resources-for-improving-data-quality/

Living Donor Committee Offers Multiple Resources for Improving Data Quality
March 24th, 2011   UNOS Communications

Letter Sent to Living Donor Program Administrators
For the third year in a row, the OPTN/UNOS President and the Chair of the OPTN/UNOS Living Donor Committee have sent a letter to all living donor programs containing detailed information on the status of their living donor follow up. The letter, sent the first weekend in March to the program administrators, compares center-specific data of that program’s one year living donor follow-up to the national median.

Current policy requires that transplant centers submit follow-up forms on all living donors after transplant at six months, one year and two years. Those requirements don’t specifically state, however, that the forms must be filled out completely—and unfortunately—often they’re not. So although most centers have gotten better about submitting the actual forms, the information within is not always complete or useful.

We encourage members of living donor transplant teams to contact your program administrator to view your living donor follow-up center specific data.

New Resource Available
A resource recently developed by  the Living Donor Committee is now available on the OPTN website. Based on a review of high performing living donor programs, it outlines best practices for collecting and submitting high quality data for living donor follow-up. Programs are encouraged to use this voluntary resource as a jump start to developing your own individual strategies.  Watch for an article about the resource in the upcoming March/April issue of the UNOS Update Magazine.

Special Thanks
The Living Donor Committee is grateful to the following programs for their assistance in developing the living donor follow-up resource.
Living donor liver programs: Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Burlington, MA (Denise Morin, RN, MSN) University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, VA (Anita Sites, RN, BSN, CCTC)
Living donor kidney programs :The Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, OH (Barbara Groene, RN, BSN) Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL (Sharon White, RN, BSN, CCTC) North Austin Medical Center, Austin, TX (James Pittman, RN, BSN) Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH (Laura Murdock, MHA, Robin Petersen-Webster, LPN, CCTC) Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Denver, CO (Kelli Jantz, RN, BSN, Marita Dougherty, MSW) University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC (Lauren Kearns, MSN, RN-BC, Ann Litts, RN, BSN, CCTC, Deborah Ericks

[Donna Luebke]

Would question how the two liver programs are actually demonstrating Best Practices. They are part of the A2ALL study so they get paid to follow their donors.  If did not get paid, bet would be marked lost to followup.  Wonder how much $$ get paid for participating in A2ALL? 

Suggest the OPTN survey its member to find out how many know the living donor data submission policy has been mandatory for over 10 years.  It is a 'data submission' policy.  Returning an empty form should never been equated with compliance.  In 1999, the policy was to follow donors out 1 year; increased around 2006 to two years.  This is only short term data.  Just this week, I reviewed my medical records from the donor surgery/transplant hospial.  I had a complication yet was stated in a note that 'no complication occurred as a result of this procedure.'  In whose mind is 'reconstructing my diaphragm' and a pneumothorax not a complication.  If an abstractor read my records, they would report no complications. Is all about what gets documented and reported.  Maybe should have independent random reviews--tied to CMS or Joint Commission Reviews.  Every donor death and serious complication should be presented to the larger Department of Surgery Morbidity and Mortality Conference.  Transplant programs are part of the larger Department of Surgery.  Should have to report adverse events to the entire Department.