title: The value of surgeon-specific outcome data: results of a questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The publication of surgeon-specific data has been controversial. To assess the profession's opinion, a forum was organized at the 2015 EACTS meeting followed by a questionnaire of the value of surgeon-specific outcome and its impact.
  
  
  METHODS
  A series of presentations were made including assessments of quality and safety in one major European country, the relationship between volume and outcome, the role of guidelines, the effect of publication of results on training, and discussion for and against publication of surgeon-specific data. A questionnaire was given to all attendees at the forum on the value of surgeon-specific data and their impact on the specialty.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The questionnaire was completed by 118 attendees. Of the total, 69% felt that mortality is a surrogate for quality and that it should be reported at the hospital and unit level as opposed to the individual surgeon level, but 81% wished there were different criteria for quality outcome. Of the total, 91% felt that the individual surgeons' data should be collected but not published in public portals, and that publication produces risk-averse behaviour; 65% felt that it hinders innovation; 86% felt that EuroSCORE II is not reliable in identifying high-risk patients and the same number felt that it has affected entry into the specialty.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The information that is collectable will be published, but we can control the way in which it is published and presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St. George's Hospital, London, UK marjan.jahangiri@stgeorges.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jahangiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St. George's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Rajdeep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bilkhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Columbia University Medical Centre, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borger
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, German Heart Center Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Volkmar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Falk
authors.affiliation: Health Inspectorate, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Helleman
authors.affiliation: Hempsons, London, UK.
authors.forename: Bertie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Plano, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mack
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quintana
authors.affiliation: Unit of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital Cruz Vermelha, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sousa Uva
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Oxford Heart Centre, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Westaby
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pomar
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D066231:Surgeons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States
keywords: Outcomes; Risk stratification; Training