MIDCABG registry: Share and compare on line
There’s now an on-line registry for beating-heart minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCABG) procedures. The Internet database contains cases from reporting centers all over the world and presents overviews of patients’ progress before, after, and throughout the procedure.
Once registered, users can access histories, preoperative interventions, and records of patients’ surgeries, including complications, follow-up visits, and postoperative tests and interventions. Surgical nurses can click to a page that lists instruments and equipment unique to the procedure. Another part of the site tells how to prepare the patient, and describes what goes on the day before and day of surgery. The site’s address is http:// www.heartnet.org/midcab/registry/index.tcl.
Janis W. Richmond, RN, CNOR, a cardiovascular-thoracic specialist in the cardiac OR at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, MD, assisted James D. Fonger, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Adventist, in developing the registry. She expects nurses to e-mail her from the Web page and share their experiences.
"Cardio unit staffs can compare their outcomes data to that of others doing the procedure," says Richmond. "We hope we can cut down on the learning curve by giving people who aren’t doing a lot of these cases one a week or one every two weeks some help in coming up to speed. When surgeons and operating teams can communicate with others, they can improve their techniques without having to wait to see a journal article or hear a presentation that tells you whether you’ve been doing something right or wrong."
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