OPTIMA (OPtimal Treatment for patients wiht solid tumours in Europe through Artificial Intelligence)
OPTIMA is a 34 partners-based IMI project. The programme aim is to design, develop and deliver the first interoperable and GDPR-compliant European real-world oncology data and evidence generation platform based on the needs of the clinicians and patients, in an inclusive and sustainable way. It will be built on a combination of federated and centralised access to a vast network of European data providers to help answer the highest priority research questions in prostate, breast and lung cancer, especially where current existing evidence underpinning clinical practice guidelines is weak. In parallel, comprehensive decision support toolsets based on national and international guidelines with approved regular updates of guideline recommendations underpinned by evidence from advanced statistical analysis and AI will be made available to fill the guidelines gaps and better support shared decision making by clinicians and patients.
Aim
To work with a network of European data providers to help answer highest priority research questions and aid in the development and application in clinical settings of comprehensive dynamic computer interpretable guidelines to better support shared decision making by clinicians and patients.
RESECT (Transurethral REsection and Single instillation intra-vesical chemotherapy Evaluation in bladder Cancer Treatment (RESECT) Improving quality in TURBT surgery.)
RESECT is a collaborative project with the British Urology Researchers in Surgical Training (BURST) group, including researchers from the Academic Urology Unit and HSRU. The primary objective is to determine if audit and feedback can improve the quality of TURBT surgery and reduce early recurrence rates. We will measure the achievement of TURBT quality indicators across hospitals, regions and countries and compare these against evidence-based recommendations. We aim to determine if any hospital, service, training, or technical factors impact the achievement of quality indicators and/or early recurrence rates. We aim to use these data to present hospital and clinician performance back to surgeons, as a method of driving quality improvement. The timing of feedback to different hospitals will be varied randomly so that we can determine if the feedback is having an impact on audit performance.
Aims
A main aim of RESECT is to test intereventions aimed at improving adherence to guidelines around single instilation of chemotherapy adn documentation of the procudure - which have been shown to be associated with improved patient outcomes. RESECT also aims to answer some key unknowns :
- Does reporting and comparing our TURBT quality make us do it better?
- What things should we measure to determine TURBT quality?
- What rate of achievement should we aim for in our practice?
- What factors are associated with better achievement of TURBT quality?
You can read more about RESECT here: https://www.bursturology.com/Studies/Resect/Overview/
IMAGINE
IMAGINE is a Pan-European National Urological Society Implementation Science Collaborative established to monitor clinical practice variation across over 40 European countries, to monitor baseline adherence to guideline recommendations and to identify determinants of non-adherence. IMAGINE will go on to develop knowledge transfer interventions geared to improve adherence. The first pilot has seen adherence data capture relating to treatment of over 6000 patients. To find out more on IMAGINE’s objectives, please see the following editorial and a recent publication.
IMAGINE is a European Association of Urology (EAU) working group focussing on mapping adherence to EAU guidelines and, where variation or suboptimal practice is identified, investigating the barriers and facilitators to guideline adherence, and developing implementation interventions to adress the barriers and leverage the facilitators, monitoring clinical practice variation across over 40 European countries, monitoring baseline adherence to guideline recommendations and identifying determinants of non-adherence.
Aim
IMAGINE will go on to develop knowledge transfer interventions geared to improve adherence. The first pilot has seen adherence data capture relating to treatment of over 6000 patients.You can read more about the IMAGINE group in this editorial