Data Manager

Earlier this month, more than 470 data managers attended the 2024 Advances in Quality & Outcomes: A Data Manager’s Meeting (AQO) in Nashville, both virtually and in person. Throughout the successful three-day event, surgical team data managers deepened their understanding of the STS National Database. They learned about new features, functionality, quality improvement initiatives, and research outcomes from surgeon leaders, Database platform experts, and fellow data managers. This expanded knowledge will help them be integral to their heart team as they lead their centers to improve clinical outcomes and patient safety using the STS National Database.

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The event showcased the Database's unique analytical power in supporting ongoing outcomes analysis and continuous improvement efforts for each institution. Experts led in-depth discussions and presented four learning tracks to help users master each Database registry: Adult Cardiac, Congenital Heart, General Thoracic, and Intermacs/Pedimacs.

Here’s what a few attendees had to say:

• “Thank you for the opportunity to speak at AQO this year. It was very well organized, and I felt I had excellent communication throughout the process. I know A LOT of work goes into coordinating events like this, so thank you for your efforts. It was really nice to get to talk with other users and share tips and tricks!” – Marie Wilson, MSHQS, MSN, RN, quality coordinator at University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital
• “The conference last week was great!  I really enjoyed the presentations, Q&A, and meeting other data managers.  Keep up the great work!”– Clera Sugarbaker, performance improvement analyst/abstractor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• “Thank you for a great conference. I am proud to be a part of the STS Intermacs community. We truly do great things!! Looking forward to what is to come.” – Elizabeth Spreen, RN, clinical quality analyst at Baton Rouge General Medical Center

Check out the AQO photo gallery. 

STS is pleased to announce the release of the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database Executive Dashboard Report, now available on the Database platform. The Executive Dashboard includes the following components:

• The participant’s star ratings for the last six star-rating periods, allowing you to easily track your site’s risk-adjusted performance longitudinally.
• Resource utilization metrics for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures, which provide participants near real-time data vs. STS benchmark data from the previous analysis period, including: 
  • ICU times
  • Postoperative total ventilation hours
  • Postoperative length of stay
  • Total blood project usage (intraoperative/postoperative)
• Participant’s performance on meeting inclusion eligibility criteria. Utilizing green, yellow, and red statuses and convenient drill-down functionality, participants can easily identify cases of concern and save valuable time. And case counts are available to allow users to verify if their site meets case count requirements for analysis. Updates to this report are ongoing to provide real-time data. Refer to the Notifications tab on the IQVIA Platform for updates. 

Additional procedure types for resource utilization metrics were released on April 13, 2024. More utilization metrics are being considered. If you have a suggestion, contact Carole Krohn at ckrohn@sts.org.
 
If you have questions regarding the Database, contact the STS Database Help Desk.

During this session, investigators unveiled findings from the largest multicenter study of post-arterial switch operations (ASO) that resulted in increased survival rates for adolescents and adult patients – as well as an increase in the potential for these patients to require cardiac reoperations to address arterial switch related complications that arise later in life.

At day two's presentation on “Burden of Reoperative  Cardiac Surgery among Adolescents and Adults Who Have Undergone Prior Arterial Switch Operation: Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database Analysis,” Bret Mettler, MD, from Johns Hopkins University, examined a multi-year assessment of the prevalence and types of cardiac surgical interventions in patients who previously underwent ASO using data from the STS National Database. 

“Anatomical repair of transposition of the great arteries (TGA) and related anomalies by arterial switch operation (ASO) achieves a normal anatomic and physiologic cardiac configuration,” said Dr. Mettler.  “And as survival rates have increased, so have the potential for these patients to require cardiac reoperations to address resulting ASO-related complications.”

As most reoperations involved multiple procedures, the presentation examined how a hierarchical stratification of procedure categories was established, with each eligible surgical hospitalization assigned to the single highest applicable hierarchical category.
  
Dr. Mettler's presentation also examined implications for surgical counseling, post-operative clinical surveillance, and therapeutic management. An analysis of the role of procedural prevalence, timing, categories, trends, and the growing number of reoperations was discussed.