Synoptic Reporting (surgery)
April 2012 marks the beginning of the Partnership’s second five-year mandate and the next phase of implementing Canada’s national cancer strategy. The priorities and initiatives for the next five years are outlined in our 2012-2017 strategic plan, Sustaining Action Toward a Shared Vision. Our website will soon be updated to reflect the activities supporting the strategic plan. The information below reflects the priorities and accomplishments of our work between 2007 and 2012.
Standardizing information to support quality surgical care and more effective treatment
Electronic synoptic reporting captures standardized information about surgery at the point of care and transmits the surgical report to other health-care personnel — for example, to medical and radiation oncologists and family physicians — within minutes. Surgeons can use the captured information, which includes the ability to assess adherence to the clinical evidence and safety procedures embedded in the reporting templates, to track their own practices and those of their community. In turn, this information can benefit patients through safer surgical care and more effective treatment.
Canada is a leader in implementing synoptic reporting in cancer surgery. Building on work that began in Alberta with funding from Canada Health Infoway, the Partnership is actively collaborating with clinicians in five jurisdictions across the country to develop and implement content and informatics standards for specific types of cancer surgery.
Progress to date
- An electronic synoptic reporting pilot project for breast, colorectal, ovarian and head/neck surgeries was successfully completed in early 2011 for selected centres in Alberta, Manitoba Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.
- An independent evaluation of the synoptic reporting pilot project was completed in March 2011. It demonstrated improved efficiency in time required to fill out and submit reports, improved completeness of reporting on data elements essential to recording surgery, positive experiences by surgeons, and the potential for comparison across jurisdictions. The evaluation also highlighted the successful sharing of best practices among five provinces and the importance of the co-ordinating role the Partnership had in the process.
- In January 2011, key stakeholders convened to learn about evaluation results from the pilot implementations of electronic reporting for cancer surgery and to discuss the future of synoptic surgery reporting in Canada.
