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NORE: New network of orthopaedic registries to further enhance treatment quality
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NORE: This acronym reflects a new initiative of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology to bring more transparency, quality and safety to orthopaedic and traumatology surgery in Europe. We have restructured the mechanism for cooperation and exchanges among orthopaedic registries in Europe, placing them on an innovative basis and creating – through the Network of Orthopaedic Registries in Europe – a new foundation for the optimal use of these valuable data resources, said Ass. Prof. Dr. Per Kjaersgaard-Andersen, Secretary General of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT).
Registries play an important role in quality assessment and quality enhancement in the field of orthopaedic surgery, in the development of orthopaedic procedures and devices and in ensuring the best possible treatment for patients. Because of the excellent quality in many of Europe’s national registries, EFORT attributes great importance to them and therefore wants to strengthen their networking.
NORE creates a new basis for comprehensive networking. Initially, NORE will focus on registries of hip and knee arthroplasty, though this will not exclude initiatives and established registry formats for other joints and diseases, such as ankle, shoulder, spine and hip fractures. Ass. Prof. Dr. Kjaersgaard-Andersen explained that in order to support improvements in patient care, NORE – as an all-inclusive network – will foster international collaboration and coordination of learning and research in orthopaedic treatments, with special focus on medical device surveillance and arthroplasty outcomes. Collaboration on registry data with other international organizations, such as the International Society of Arthroplasty Registries or International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries, will improve implant-related patient outcomes.
Another new feature is the organizational basis upon which the cooperation among registries will take place in the future. We are talking not about creating an independent society or legal entity here, Kjaersgaard-Andersen emphasized. The idea is to network national registries within existing EFORT structures in order to provide the best support possible. This concept met with a high degree of approval in a survey of national member societies and existing registries.
Ass. Prof. Dr. Kjaersgaard-Andersen said it was decided to set up NORE as a Standing Committee within EFORT. This way it is embedded within the organization and can use the EFORT platform to disseminate education and research on registry data. This will be available not only to EFORT members, but to the public as well in order to create awareness about performance of medical devices. It should engage and enhance patient and public confidence and trust in both the medical devices and the surgeons who use them so as to sustain and improve public health.
The committee will be headed by a chairman, appointed by the EFORT Board, as is the case with other EFORT Committees. Administrative support will come from the EFORT Head Office. We want this to be an all-inclusive organization. The Advisory Board will be placed on a broad basis so as to ensure that the national registries are adequately represented.
Prof. Kjaersgaard-Andersen described the next steps in the creation of NORE: the draft charter we have developed has just been approved by the EFORT Board and will then be made available to our national member societies and to all national registries throughout Europe. The recent EFORT Congress in Prague witnessed the effective launch of the new network with its first meeting. Participants will define details of the future work plan.
In general terms, according to Prof. Kjaersgaard-Andersen, NORE will provide advice and awareness to EFORT on international perspectives, experiences and practices in medical device surveillance. This may range from data capture through data analysis and reporting techniques to new methods for evaluating performance of medical devices. The majority of NORE activities will be handled within Working Groups which will report back to the Standing Committee.