title: Measuring performance in skin cancer practice: the SCARD initiative.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Skin Cancer College of Australia and New Zealand (SCCANZ) has developed a unique project named SCARD - the Skin Cancer Audit and Research Database. Designed initially as a self-audit tool for primary care skin cancer practitioners, SCARD acts as a tracking tool to enhance practice safety, and it also creates practice performance reports. Pooling of de-identified data enables participating practitioners to confidentially compare their own practice to that of their peers. Additionally, this creates a large database with significant research potential, as SCARD records for every lesion de-identified practitioner and patient data, and extensive details of location, provisional and histological diagnosis, and the procedure(s) performed in its treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Preliminary data collected in the database have been presented in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An initial pool of data from 177 practitioners contains 77,553 specimens from 41,006 individual patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data presented are being analyzed for further studies, and additional data continues to be collected from this ongoing project. SCARD is a useful tool at practice level, and substantial uptake by Australian primary care skin cancer practitioners has provided a unique opportunity for research into skin cancer and its management. SCCANZ, a professional college of predominantly primary care medical practitioners, with a commitment to the management of skin cancer in Australia and New Zealand, has formed a partnership with the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland to ensure that these data are managed and analyzed appropriately.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. cliffr@qld.chariot.net.au
authors.forename: Cliff
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosendahl
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bourne
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keir
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dicker
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weedon
authors.forename: H Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Soyer
authors.forename: Philippa H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Youl
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007636:Keratoacanthoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult