European Society of Gynaecological Oncology quality indicators for surgical treatment of cervical cancer.

Background: Optimizing and ensuring the quality of surgical care is essential to improve the management and outcome of patients with cervical cancer.To develop a list of quality indicators for surgical treatment of cervical cancer that can be used to audit and improve clinical practice.
Methods: Quality indicators were developed using a four-step evaluation process that included a systematic literature search to identify potential quality indicators, in-person meetings of an ad hoc group of international experts, an internal validation process, and external review by a large panel of European clinicians and patient representatives.
Results: Fifteen structural, process, and outcome indicators were selected. Using a structured format, each quality indicator has a description specifying what the indicator is measuring. Measurability specifications are also detailed to define how the indicator will be measured in practice. Each indicator has a target which gives practitioners and health administrators a quantitative basis for improving care and organizational processes.
Discussion: Implementation of institutional quality assurance programs can improve quality of care, even in high-volume centers. This set of quality indicators from the European Society of Gynaecological Cancer may be a major instrument to improve the quality of surgical treatment of cervical cancer.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: DC has reported advisory roles for AstraZeneca, Roche, and Sotio; FR has reported activities for Roche, AstraZeneca, and Tesaro; IV has reported advisory boards for Advaxis, Inc, Eisai Inc, MSD Belgium, Roche NV, Genmab, F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, PharmaMar, Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Clovis Oncology Inc, AstraZeneca NV, Tesaro, Oncoinvent AS, Immunogen Inc, Sotio, contracted research (via KU Leuven) with Oncoinvent AS, Genmab, research grants from Amgen, Roche, Stichting tegen Kanker, accommodations and/or travel expenses from Takeda Oncology, PharmaMar, Genmab, Roche, AstraZeneca and Tesaro; DF, CF, CK, FL, PM, RN, FP, JP, DQ, AR, KT, CT, PW, and AGZE have reported no conflicts of interest.
(© IGCS and ESGO 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. Published by BMJ.)