NEWS Pindara Goes Global in Spinal Surgery Pindara Private Hospital neurosurgeons are set to join an international research consortium to investigate and document the world’s best practice in spinal surgery. The Pindara study is being undertaken as part of a strategic alliance between Ramsay Health Care and the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) and will be known as ICHOM: POSS (International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement: Pindara Outcomes for Spinal Surgery). Pindara’s focus will be on tracking the outcomes of spinal surgery as reported by patients having received treatment for lower back pain. Findings will be collated with those gathered through other major international organisations and the treatments will be benchmarked. Pindara Neurosurgeon Dr Leong Tan has been appointed Lead for the study and he will be joined by colleagues Dr Ellison Stephenson, Dr Chris Schwindack and Dr Anna Chang. “People with back pain need the best information to make informed decisions about the expected outcomes of spinal surgery. The data gathered in this project focuses on what matters most to patients,” Dr Tan said. “Patients want to know how they will fare after treatment – whether they can return to work, whether they will need pain medication, require additional treatment, be able to take care of themselves and most importantly will their symptoms improve?” Ultimately, Dr Tan said, the study will help guide the medical profession (globally) to identify the approaches that have greatest success for specific spinal conditions, because benchmarking articulates what treatment works best for the various types of conditions. Pindara CEO Trish Hogan said the ICHOM 2016 study presents an opportunity for her hospital to contribute to an international database of knowledge around lower back pain, further positioning Pindara as a centre of excellence in spinal surgery. “One of our main priorities is to ensure we collect enough data to make a difference, so recruitment and retention of as many participants as possible is vitally important. “To help us achieve this we’ve adopted a whole-of-hospital approach and engaged staff from various departments, within the hospital, to become collaborators, supporters and promoters of the study,” Trish said. ICHOM was founded by Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School, the Swedish Karolinska Institutet and Boston Consulting Group to provide data on patient outcomes that has been measured and reported in a standardised way to facilitate performance benchmarking for healthcare systems. 8 Pindara Magazine 2016
Pindara Private Hospital Magazine - Issue Seven
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