SurgicalPerformance is about generating your own surgical insights
Start free trialWe believe it is critical that you know how well you are doing with your patients. Easy access to your data and insights is essential for you to improve your clinical outcomes.
SurgicalPerformance Pty Ltd is an independent, registered Australian company based in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 2009 by Professor Andreas Obermair, a gynaecological oncologist in active clinical practice, who identified an unmet personal need for his practice.
SurgicalPerformance is built solely for registered medical practitioners. All data transfer is encrypted, safe from interference and stored securely.
Mission
Our mission is to empower surgeons to track their procedures and complications with a view to improving patient outcomes.
Vision
Our vision is for all surgeons to be able to know how well they are doing for their patients at any time via access to their outcomes data.
SurgicalPerformance has been developed with the sole purpose to help our medical professionals be the best doctors that they can possibly be.
Professor Andreas Obermair,
Founder and Managing Director
INDUSTRY TRUSTED – RANZCOG
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists awards 1 CPD point for every 12 cases entered into SurgicalPerformance.
Legal Considerations
Is consent from patients required?
No, because audit is part of the clinical routine service provision
Is Human Research Ethics Approval Required?
Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) review is only required for research but clinical (surgical) audit does not constitute research as such. The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2018) does not suggest that collection of data self-reflection database is a research activity. Rather, the National Statement only applies when that data is to be used in what would be recognised as a research activity (e.g., to generate a research report). Even then, there are instances when such usage may be considered low or as negligible risk research that can be exempted from review by a HREC.
The use of SurgicalPerformance requires collection of data by participating clinicians and only they have access to their own data. Users cannot access any other than their own data. Summaries of overall performance from the whole data set are provided in a de-identified, aggregate manner from which it is impossible to identify either individual patients or participating clinicians.
Self-reflection of surgical procedures is internationally recognised as a critical component of steps aimed at enhancing quality and safety in surgical practice. The ethical question should be “why is this not being done routinely?” as a lack of such data will place patients at potential risk through a lack of checks aimed at improving patient safety.
If users wish to use data for research (to be published), an HREC application is required. In most instances a low-risk application would suffice.
Is it legal to enter patient data in web-based software?
At SurgicalPerformance we cannot monitor whether identifiable or deidentified patient data is entered. SurgicalPerformance undertakes all necessary steps to prevent the data from being interfered with from unauthorised persons, similar to a clinical practice management system.
Will I be reported if my complication rate exceeds the acceptable limit?
No, SurgicalPerformance will not monitor users’ outcomes or report them to any third parties unless required by law. See our privacy policy.
Is data available for research?
You will always have 24/7 access to your own data, which you can download into an Excel spreadsheet. You can generate research reports using your own data. SurgicalPerformance reserves its right to use deidentified data from all users for research purposes.
Should you wish to perform research using SurgicalPerformance’s data, you will need to make a submission to SurgicalPerformance [email protected] and apply. You will only receive de-identified data that will not allow patients or contributing clinicians to be identified.
Will I be required to disclose that I collect data in SurgicalPerformance?
We recommend that you disclose self-reflection activities to patients as part of your practice’s Privacy Policy as a matter of administrative routine. However, there is no need to get audit approved by the hospital, the College or patients.