European Framework for the Evaluation of Organ Transplants

WP7 - Quality assurance

The objective of this WP is to set up a quality assurance system for obtaining high quality data on transplantation outcomes.

A survey will be performed through the circulation of a questionnaire sent to all partners. On the basis of this analysis a consensus document that identifies an agreed quality assurance methodology will be worked out for this particular field. Following such analysis, a consensus document for a best practice of quality assurance of transplant outcome, data collection, production pathways and auditing methods via the organizations that delivered the data will be laid down.

The definition of quality indicators for organ transplantation is a prerequisite for increasing quality of health in this field. Ensuring the quality of data that are used for assessing transplant outcome is pivotal in this process, as quality assurance of registry data allows comparative analysis. This quality assurance study will evaluate the following processes: data delivery, data validation, data storage, follow-up data refreshing and data dissemination according to the legal, functional and technical requirements that have been defined in WP5 and WP6.

In this work package we will find consensus on a common shared methodology for assessing the quality of post-transplant outcome, the validation of these data sources and their handling. Since this WP represents the final moment of the evaluation process, it will start with the results and inputs from other work packages.

In order to achieve this goal, existing methods through which transplant organizations represented in the project presently ensure quality of data production and input for transplant outcome evaluation have to be analyzed. Such analysis will focus on transplant processes and on how defined outcome data are produced, collected and handled by different organizations in different countries.