Assessing translational research excellence in European comprehensive cancer centers

Abstract

Objectives: Cancer centres are pressured to deliver high-quality services that can be measured and improved, which has led to an increase of assessments in many countries. A critical area of quality improvement is patient safety. An overview of existing assessments can help stakeholders (e.g. healthcare professionals, managers and policy makers) improve the quality of cancer research and care and lead to patient benefits. This paper presents key aspects of assessments undertaken by European cancer centers, such as: are assessments mandatory or voluntary? do they focus on evaluating research, care or both? And are they international or national? Design, setting and participants: A survey was sent to 33 cancer centers in 28 EU member states. Participants were asked to score the specifics for each assessment that they listed.Measures: An overview of the assessments per country with a differentiation of characteristics.Results: Based on the responses from 19 cancer centers from 18 member states, we found 110 assessments. The numbers have steadily increased from 1990's till 2015. Although, a majority of assessments are on patient-care aspects (n=45), it is unclear how many of those include assessing patient outcomes. Only few assessments cover basic research. There is an increasing trend towards mixed assessments (i.e. combining research and patient-care aspects) Conclusions:The need for assessments in cancer centers is increasing. To improve efforts in the quality of research and patient care and to prevent new assessments that "reinvent the wheel", it is advised to start comparative research into the assessments that are likely to bring patient benefits. Do assessments provide consistent and reliable information that create added value for all key stakeholders? 23. Horizon2020-the EU framework programme for Research and Innovation http://ec.europa.eu/ programmes/horizon2020/ Accessed December 12, 2014 24. European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation, Innovation Union Competitiveness Report 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/ research/innovation-union/pdf/competitiveness_ report_2013.pdf Published January 2014. Accessed December 12, 2014 25. Fierlbeck K. The changing contours of experimental governance in European healthcare. Social Science & Medicine 108: 89-96 (2014). 26. Joint Accreditation Committee Isct. Embt http:// www.jacie.org Accessed December 12, 2014 27. International Organization for Standardization http:// www.iso.org/iso/home.html Accessed December 12, 2014 28. The German Cancer Society http://www. krebsgesellschaft.de/german-cancer-society.html Accessed December 12, 2014 29. Progress Consulting S.r.l. and Living Prospects Ltd . 2012. The management of health systems in the EU member states -the role of local and regional authorities ISBN: 978-92-895-0717-2 30. Montagu D. Accreditation and other external quality assessment systems for healthcare, Review of Experiences and lessons learned May 2003, prepared by the Health Systems Resource Center on behalf of Department for International Deve...