The Outcomes Group in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine was started in 2013 as an effort to allow all members of the department to examine patient outcome data in an efficient and seamless manner. The Information Technology (IT) team has worked hand in hand with the Outcomes Group to create methods for extracting and analyzing outcome data of all kinds. Although the Outcomes Group was initiated by members of the Main OR (Perioperative) Division, there are now very active participants from all divisions of the department.
Outcomes Group
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Over the last 5 years, approximately 200 projects have been accomplished through the auspices of the Outcomes Group, with more than 20 projects currently under way. The scope of the projects include Boston Children's-specific investigations of Cardiac, Pain, Main OR, and ICU outcomes such as evaluation of the impact of congenital cardiac disease on surgical outcomes, the effectiveness of peripheral nerve blocks to control post-operative pain, and the long-term psychological and behavioral impacts of surgery on toddlers (to name but a few). This group also spearheads our department’s participation in national data collaborative efforts that have either been initiated by members of the outcomes group, or significantly improved by them. In the future this group will be critical to creating a Learning Healthcare Environment, where data is collected on all patients undergoing surgery (or automated clinical trials) and continuous outcomes analysis leads to real-time improvement in care.