Pan-Canadian standards for eight types of cancer: A coordinated approach to improve consistency in surgical care

Learn about the standards for recording data elements and indicators as related to surgical-synoptic reporting of eight cancer types

This 2016 report gives updated, endorsed Canadian standards about the data elements and indicators used for surgical-synoptic reporting of eight cancer types:

  • Breast
  • Colon
  • Rectal
  • Thyroid
  • Lung
  • Prostate
  • Ovarian
  • Endometrial

Before 2007, national standards for cancer operative reporting were unavailable in Canada. In 2007, the Partnership began working with surgeons across Canada to develop, pilot, and implement the pan-Canadian standards. They’ve generated electronic, surgical synoptic reporting that gives consistent and comprehensive information about direct patient care.

These pan-Canadian standards for breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, ovarian, endometrial, and thyroid cancer contain the important aspects of surgery, including pre-operative and operative procedures, intra-operative observations, intra-operative pathology, clinical-stage findings, complications, and outcomes.

Six medical societies have endorsed these standards for use in clinical practice to advance excellence in surgical care. The standards are aligned to clinical guidelines where there is wide consensus among surgeons with cancer expertise, and to the work that Alberta began originally in 1999.

As well, this report briefly describes:

  • An overview of the synoptic reporting standards for Canada
  • How surgeons are currently using the standards to collect data and measure surgical-care performance
  • The potential of using the standards to address current key challenges for surgical care in Canada
  • The goal of these standards
  • The role of provincial leadership and system-level enablers
  • Future directions

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