title: The European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Quality Improvement Initiative: developing performance measures.
abstract: The European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) and United European Gastroenterology (UEG) have a vision to create a thriving community of endoscopy services across Europe, collaborating with each other to provide high quality, safe, accurate, patient-centered and accessible endoscopic care. Whilst the boundaries of what can be achieved by advanced endoscopy are continually expanding, we believe that one of the most fundamental steps to achieving our goal is to raise the quality of everyday endoscopy. The development of robust, consensus- and evidence-based key performance measures is the first step in this vision.ESGE and UEG have identified quality of endoscopy as a major priority. This paper explains the rationale behind the ESGE Quality Improvement Initiative and describes the processes that were followed. We recommend that all units develop mechanisms for audit and feedback of endoscopist and service performance using the ESGE performance measures that will be published in future issues of this journal over the next year. We urge all endoscopists and endoscopy services to prioritize quality and to ensure that these performance measures are implemented and monitored at a local level, so that we can provide the highest possible care for our patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rutter
authors.affiliation: CPO Piemonte, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Senore
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Department, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Raf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bisschops
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine I, Josephs-Hospital Warendorf, Academic Teaching Hospital, University of Münster, Warendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Domagk
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valori
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Oncology, The Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, and Medical Center for Postgraduate Education, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Michal F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Kaminski
authors.affiliation: Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Catholic University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spada
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bretthauer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology Enabled Research, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: CPO Piemonte, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellisario
authors.affiliation: CPO Piemonte, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minozzi
authors.affiliation: Nuovo Regina Margherita Hospital, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, UK.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterologia, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia Francisco Gentil, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Mário
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dinis-Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hucl
authors.affiliation: Department. of Digestive Diseases, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ponchon
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aabakken
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fockens
mesh_terms: D003697:Delphi Technique; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000592:standards*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D012955:Societies, Medical