BACKGROUND: Optimizing and ensuring the quality of surgical care is essential to improve the management and outcome of patients with cervical cancer.To develop a list of quality indicators for surgical treatment of cervical cancer that can be used to audit and improve clinical practice. METHODS: Quality indicators were developed using a four-step evaluation process that included a systematic literature search to identify potential quality indicators, in-person meetings of an ad hoc group of international experts, an internal validation process, and external review by a large panel of European clinicians and patient representatives. RESULTS: Fifteen structural, process, and outcome indicators were selected. Using a structured format, each quality indicator has a description specifying what the indicator is measuring. Measurability specifications are also detailed to define how the indicator will be measured in practice. Each indicator has a target which gives practitioners and health administrators a quantitative basis for improving care and organizational processes. DISCUSSION: Implementation of institutional quality assurance programs can improve quality of care, even in high-volume centers. This set of quality indicators from the European Society of Gynaecological Cancer may be a major instrument to improve the quality of surgical treatment of cervical cancer.

1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athinon Greece

Asklepios Hambourg Altona and Department of Gynecology University of Cologne Koln Germany

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois Departement de gynecologie obstetrique et genetique medicale Lausanne Switzerland

Clinical Research Unit Institut Bergonie Bordeaux France

Department of Gynaecologic Oncology Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine London UK

Department of Gynecologic Oncology Universitetet i Oslo Oslo Norway

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Technische Universitat Dresden Medizinische Fakultat Carl Gustav Carus Dresden Germany

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Division of Gynecologic Oncology Gazi University Ankara Turkey

Department of Oncology Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy ImmunOvar Research Group Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Leuven Belgium

Gynaecology Universita degli Studi di Milano Bicocca Monza Italy

Gynecologic Oncology Center 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University and General University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Gynecologic Oncology Isituto Tumori Milano Milan Italy

Medical University of Graz Graz Austria

Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead UK

University Hospital of Bellvitge LHospitalet de Llobregat Spain

Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2020 Jan;30(1):1-2. doi: 10.1136/ijgc-2019-001075. PubMed

References provided by Crossref.org

International expert consensus on the surgical anatomic classification of radical hysterectomies

Association of Hospital Surgical Volume With Survival in Early-Stage Cervical Cancer Treated With Radical Hysterectomy