The Fundamentals of Sharing Data

Sharing data transparently, whether at a local or a national level, is a foundational contributor to healthcare quality. Over the last several decades, we have seen many pediatric specialties organize and collaborate around data collection at a national scale to improve care. We’ve seen firsthand how our hospital’s participation in a national cardiac critical care registry has driven quality improvement, better measurable outcomes and improved cardiac arrest rates for patients. Getting the data collection right is the first challenge. In between that first step and actually seeing improvements is a tremendous amount of work. In this episode, we explore the value of data sharing and transparency to improve outcomes for kids.

Our experts for this episode are Carly Scahill, DO, and Kelly O’Neil. Dr. Scahill specializes in pediatric cardiology as a pediatric cardiac intensivist. She is also the Fellowship Director for pediatric cardiology and the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU), as well as an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Kelly O’Neil is a registered nurse and the Manager of the Heart Institute Data Registries and Outcomes. Before her current role, she was a CICU nurse for over ten years.

For another interesting resource on this topic, check out Atul Gawande’s 2024 essay entitled “The Bell Curve.”

In this episode, our Heart Institute experts discuss:

• The purpose and use of clinical registries
• How data collection improves measurable outcomes
• The future of data collection in healthcare
• How to get more entities involved