Development of a local thoracic surgical database

Purpose: A high volume of thoracic surgery is performed in Australia and New Zealand each year, although no national database exists for the routine capture of clinical outcomes. A thoracic surgery database would allow clinical research, internal hospital auditing, hospital benchmarking, development of risk prediction models, and assessment of healthcare resource utilisation.
Methodology: A prospective database was developed for general thoracic surgical procedures, including lung resections for cancer and other pathologies, pleural procedures, chest wall reconstructions, tracheal and airway repairs, and others. Captured data endpoints included: baseline characteristics, preoperative respiratory function, oncological staging, operative details, postoperative complications, and long-term follow-up outcomes. Postoperative pain and recovery were also captured by measuring analgesia usage and through the Brief Pain Inventory survey. Definitions of data endpoints were chosen based on international standards (for example the Lung Cancer Staging Classification 8th Edition). Definitions were also chosen to overlap with established databases, including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database, where possible in an effort to improve data compatibility. The database was built using the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software platform. This platform is free for non-profit organisations, secure, allows surveys to be conducted, and exports directly to statistical software. Ethical approval was granted by the local Human Research Ethics Committee, with an opt-out model to patient consent.
Results: The database was commenced in March 2018. To date, 200 patients have been captured at the institution.
Conclusion: This study described the development of a thoracic surgical database at a local institution. This may be useful in developing a national database.