The UAB Heersink School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine has been named an active member of the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group (MPOG).

“This endeavor highlights the value that all members of the department and its affiliates serve to successfully accomplish this national honor,” says Joyce Crump, DNP, MBA, N.P., R.N., CMQ.

Contributed to by more than 50 centers across the United States and Europe, MPOG provides access to an extensive multicenter database to advance knowledge and improve patient care. Data through MPOG can be used for research, quality initiatives, and educational purposes. From the research standpoint, it utilizes perioperative physiologic, medication, and laboratory data to conduct studies for publication in high-impact journals. The goal for quality outcomes is to improve the care of patients undergoing anesthesia by reducing unexplained variation using quality measures based on the best available evidence and current standards of care.

“MPOG offers accurate and reliable internal and external benchmarking for quality improvement,” says Philip McArdle, M.D. “The system extracts data from perioperative electronic health records (EHR) and transforms it into a standardized format and transfers it to a central coordinating center. This approach helps eliminate variation in documentation and enhances validity of perioperative research. The central data set provides UAB access to more than 21 million cases and more than 45 billion physiologic records."

Becoming a member of MPOG was a multi-year endeavor. From establishing IT software capabilities to gaining institutional and IRB approvals, extensive steps were taken to obtain detailed agreements to govern the exchange of protected health information. These efforts were followed by extensive clinical mapping and case validation. As an active site, this attention to data integrity will continue on a monthly basis.

Led by McArdle; Dale Parks, Ph.D.; and Crump; the MPOG team had tremendous stamina to see this project through to the point of full membership. From IT experts to faculty and dedicated CRNAs, all members of this team played an integral role in its completion. Members include: Dave Benz; Kathy Brazeel, CRNA; Ayesha Bryant, MSPH, M.D.; Josh Hagood; Amandiy Liwo, M.D., MSPH; Melissa Ramsey, CRNA; Angie Surles, MNA, CRNA; Kesha Thurston, DNP, CRNA; and Brooke Vining, CRNA.

While MPOG membership offers enhanced opportunities to use EHR data for research analytics, quality improvement, and education initiatives, MPOG members also benefit from UAB. “UAB offers a unique, highly diverse patient population,” Crump says. “We have a proven history of research excellence, and MPOG will offer new avenues of growth.”