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Ann Thorac Surg 1999;68:362-366
© 1999 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Closing the loop: optimizing physicians’ operational and strategic behavior

^a Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
^b The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Address reprint requests to Dr Sergeant, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Gasthuisberg University Hospital, Herestraat, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
e-mail: paul.sergeant{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be

Presented at the Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, New Orleans, LA, Jan 26–28, 1998.

Abstract

Clinical databases are essential elements in optimizing medical care. They are no finality by themselves, but essential elements in the generation of knowledge. Optimal medical care starts with optimal care based on existing knowledge. This care continues with the registration of the variability in morbidity, comorbidity, and therapy, but also the registration of the early and late outcome. This should then allow the generation of structured inferences based on this registration and the closure of the loop, by treating patients according to this newly created evidence.

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