Aim: Patient registries are an important tool to document clinical practice. In addition,
registries may influence clinical practice in that they demand rigorous documentation
and standard operational procedures. In view of the growing need to document the highly
specialized treatments provided in our department, we have started a patient registry
to register all patients operated upon in the neurosurgery department of the University
Hospital Zürich. Methods: The patient inclusion started on January 1, 2013. Surgeries were characterized by
indication, treatment, and other specific neurosurgical parameters. Preoperative state
and postoperative outcome are recorded prospectively with neurological and sociological
scales. Results: Data acquisition compatible with the clinic workflow permits to include all eligible
patients into the registry. Up to now we have registered >2,300 surgeries and 4,000
consultations. Ongoing evaluation is performed in cooperation with the specialized
teams treating the six main indications: neurooncology, neurovascular diseases, functional
neurosurgery, neuroendocrine disorders, CSF disorders, and trauma. Results are presented
to the whole department on a regular basis. Conclusions: Maintaining a registry is feasible if sufficient manpower is provided. The registry
serves to streamline and to complete information flow in the clinic, to identify complication
rates and trends early for the internal quality monitoring, and to distinguish outliers
and rare events. While the introduction of DRG aims at cost transparency, the patient
registry provides outcome transparency.
