title: Accuracy of American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Pediatric for laparoscopic appendectomy at a single institution.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In October 2008, the American College of Surgeons revealed the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Pediatric in an effort to improve quality of surgical care in children. A 5% disagreement rate of data reported between institutions is accepted. The two goals of this study were to (1) determine if the random sampling performed with NSQIP data collection was representative of the population, and (2) verify that data captured in NSQIP was accurate.
  
  
  METHODS
  For children undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy from April 2010-April 2011, demographic data, length of stay (LOS), and rates of surgical site infection (SSI) and postoperative abscess recorded in NSQIP (group 1) were compared with data from chart review (group 2). Secondarily, all NSQIP data were examined for accuracy by comparing relevant data points to existing databases. All disagreements were further examined with review of the medical chart. Unpaired t-test and χ(2) with Fisher's exact test were used in the statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NSQIP Pediatric captured data from 126 children (group 1); group 2 had 525 children. There were no significant differences in age, body mass index, gender, race or LOS between the two groups. Rate of SSI was 1.6% in group 1 and 1.7% in group 2 (P = 0.92). Abscess rate was 1.6% in group 1 and 3.4% in group 2 (P = 0.28). There were six errors in the NSQIP database. One child was listed as having two SSI. One child with postoperative abscess was missed and another was not counted as they were not categorized correctly. Recorded LOS was incorrect for two children and the other had incorrect age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NSQIP Pediatric captured a representative sample of patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy. Errors were found in the reporting of outcomes for SSI and postoperative abscess in children undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy. Given the low incidence of these outcomes, there is little effect on percentages of complications reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri 64108, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: E Marty
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Knott
authors.forename: Corey W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.forename: Priscilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Shawn D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: St Peter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001062:Appendectomy / Q000592:standards*; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000592:standards*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Appendectomy; Laparoscopic; Laparoscopy; NSQIP; Pediatric