Abstract
We reviewed the past and current status of the Japan Congenital Cardiovascular Surgery Database (JCCVSD). The JCCVSD has grown steadily since 2007. Now, there are over one hundred participating hospitals in the JCCVSD throughout Japan, and the cumulative number of submitted cases totaled about twenty thousand by the end of 2011. Thus, the volume of submitted data represents nearly full coverage of Japan.
All submitted data belong to the JCCVSD and participating hospitals. Thus, participants can download their own data, analyze the information, and submit reports to journals independent of the JCCVSD. We announced the rules for data use and authorship to the participating hospitals to encourage submission of papers resulting in promotion of quality improvement.
The JCCVSD was first audited last year, and 28.9% of patients and 29.6% of procedures were verified. The audit was almost completely concluded, 99.0% cases out of 1279 cases, with high accuracy and missing less than 1% of the data. But, under-reporting the complications could not be missed. One of the current problems is the collaboration with the Board Certification System. Board Certification by the Japan Surgical Society (National Clinical Database, NCD) is the first step. Board Certification by Cardiovascular Surgery (JACVSD, JCCVSD) is the second step as a sub-specialty with cardiovascular surgery. These two board certifications presently are under the control of two separate organizations. These two organizations will judge based on the database by extraction of applied surgeon's experience from the JCCVSD. If a surgeon does not participate in the JCCVSD, they cannot apply for board certification. In either the Japan Surgical Society or the Japan Society of Cardiovascular Surgery, development or refinement of a new system for such interactions is to be started without delay.
