Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36669834›Full record

ArticleBMJ open quality2023

Multicentre positive deviance to reduce adverse events and length of stay after pulmonary resection.

Andrew J E Seely, Zubair Ahmadzai, Daniel G French, Molly Gingrich, Daniel Jones, Caitlin Anstee, Najib Safieddine, Thomas K Waddell, Richard Malthaner, Lorenzo Ferri and 2 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open quality, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Financial Burden of Postoperative Adverse Events Following Lobectomy: Cost Analysis From 10 High-Volume Canadian Hospitals.European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Andrew J E SeelyDepartment of Surgery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada aseely@ohri.ca.
Zubair AhmadzaiOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-2399-2834
Daniel G FrenchDepartment of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Molly GingrichOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Daniel JonesDepartment of Surgery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Caitlin AnsteeOttawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Najib SafieddineDepartment of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Thomas K WaddellToronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Richard MalthanerWestern University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Lorenzo FerriMcGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Christian FinleyDepartment of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Gail DarlingDepartment of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPostoperative adverse events (AEs) following pulmonary resection enormously impact patient well-being, length of stay (LOS) and healthcare costs. Standardised AE data collection can be used to identify positive outliers demonstrating positive deviance (PD) who may be helpful to inform the best practice. Here, we describe our initial experience of a novel quality improvement process using PD to reduce LOS and AEs.

methodsAE rates and LOS were collected from four centres (2014-2020) using a common dictionary. Surgeons repeatedly participated in 60 to 90 min seminars consisting of the following process: identify outcome and procedure targeted, review relevant best evidence literature, view all data anonymised by surgeon or centre (if multicentre), choose and reveal identity of best performance PD outliers, who discuss their management principles while all receive self-evaluation reports, followed by collegial discussion to generate consensus recommendations, voted by all. We assessed overall impact on AEs and LOS using aggregate data in a before/after analysis.

resultsA total of 131 surgeons (average 12/seminar) participated in 11 PD seminars (8 local and 3 multicentre), yielding 85 consensus recommendation (average 8/seminar). Median LOS following lobectomy decreased from 4.0 to 3.0 days (p=0.04) following local PD seminars and from 4.0 to 3.5 days (p=0.11) following multicentre seminars. Trends for reductions in multiple AE rates were also observed.

conclusionWhile limited by the longitudinal design, these findings provide preliminary support for this data-driven, collegial and actionable quality improvement process to help standardise and improve patient care, and merits further more rigorous investigation.

Indexed as

SurgeonsData CollectionHealth Care CostsHumansLength of StayQuality ImprovementAdverse events, epidemiology and detectionContinuous quality improvementPostoperative CareQuality improvement methodologiesSurgery

Identifiers

PMID36669834
PMCPMC9872471

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.