40 INTRODUCING AN INTERACTIVE ONLINE-REPORT FROM THE SWEDISH NATIONAL QUALITY REGISTER FOR ESOPHAGEAL AND GASTRIC CANCER—OPEN NREV

The Swedish National Quality Register for Esophageal and Gastric Cancer (NREV) was introduced in 2007 and is the sole quality registry in Sweden for patients with esophageal and gastric cancer. Previously, selected variables from the registry was made available to both caregivers and the public through a downloadable annual report. We aimed to make quality indicators readily available to all interested parties; caregivers, patient groups, hospital staff, researchers, administrators and health-political decision-makers. Methods A database was compiled with registry data presented for all years since 2007 and updated every six months. Several graphical and numeric presentations were implemented. Both medical expertise and a patient representative were involved in choosing relevant quality indicator variables as well as designing the web interface. Results Registry Coverage, Quality indicators/lead times, Treatment and Outcomes were the four main focus areas. All areas contained selectable sub-variables and the user was given the choice to present data on a national or regional level. Alterations in chosen variables or selection-base resulted in real time changes in the online report. Thus, a variable national or regional report could be tailored to the users’ needs. All data could be presented as comparative diagrams, crude tables or as time-trend analysis, as exemplified by figure 1. Conclusion An interactive online platform to display population based results and time-trends for important quality indicators in the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal and gastric cancer is now available for all. The main purpose, to make anonymized data available, was achieved by OPEN-NREV. We propose that presenting data in this manner is of interest to patients, caregivers, scientists and decision makers.

Prospective sensemaking of a national quality register in health care and elderly care

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how external change agents (ECAs) engaged to disseminate a national quality register (NQR) called Senior alert nationwide in the Swedish health care and elderly care sectors interpret their work. To study this, sensemaking theories are used. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative inductive interview study including eight ECAs. To analyze the data, a thematic analysis is carried out. Findings Well-disseminated NQRs support health care organizations’ possibility to work with quality improvement and to improve care for patient groups. NQRs function as artifacts that can influence how health care professionals make sense of their work. In this paper, a typology depicting how the ECAs make sense of their dissemination work has been developed. The ECAs are engaged in prospective sensemaking. They describe their work as being about creating future good results, both for patients and affiliated organizations, and they can balance different quality aspects. Originality/value The number of NQRs increased markedly in Sweden and elsewhere, but there are few reports on how health care professionals working with the registers interpret their work. The use of ECAs to disseminate NQRs is a novel approach. This paper describes how the ECAs are engaged in prospective sensemaking – an under-researched perspective of the sensemaking theory.

Sensemaking and cognitive shifts – learning from dissemination of a National Quality Register in health care and elderly care

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine and establish how sensemaking develops among a group of external change agents (ECAs) engaged to disseminate a national quality register nationwide in Swedish health care and elderly care. To study the emergent sensemaking, the theoretical concept of cognitive shift has been used. Design/methodology/approach The data collection method included individual semi-structured interviews, and two sets of interviews (initial sensemaking and renewed sensemaking) have been conducted. Based on a typology describing how ECAs interpret their work, structural analyses and comparisons of initial and renewed sensemaking are made and illuminated in spider diagrams. The data are then analyzed to search for cognitive shifts. Findings The ECAs’ sensemaking develops. Three cognitive shifts are identified, and a new kind of issue-related cognitive shift, the outcome-related cognitive shift, is suggested. For the ECAs to customize their work, they need to be aware of how they interpret their own work and how these interpretations develop over time. Originality/value The study takes a novel view of the interrelated concepts of sensemaking and sensegivers and points out the cognitive shifts as a helpful theoretical concept to study how sensemaking develops.