MERITS has opened.
The first wave centres received their site packs on 17.9.2018.
• Step by Step video (Youtube)
• Download site pack
We would like to invite your unit to participate in the MERITS multi-centre project being run in collaboration with SCTS Students.
Consultants, trainees, students, data managers
Register your interest in joining by completing this form.
View the latest version of the MERITS1 brief protocol.
To participate or for further questions please contact:
Coordinating centre: papworth.merits@nhs.net
Vinci Naruka, Research Fellow: vinci.naruka@nhs.net
Aman Coonar, Consultant Surgeon: aman.coonar@nhs.net
Synopsis
Introduction
Mortality is very low in thoracic surgery and so using it as a quality discriminator has limitations. Other morbidity measures are needed. Data on acute kidney injury (AKI) is now routinely collected in the NHS.
A pilot audit on AKI post thoracic surgery has been conducted at the Royal Papworth Hospital and presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in March 2018 along with a proposal for a multi-centre audit.
This was discussed and considered highly desirable and as of early April 2018, more than half the GB & I units have expressed an interest to participate.
Aim
A pragmatic, high-quality multi-centre audit to evaluate AKI post thoracic surgery.
Useful for benchmarking, quality improvement and safety.
Method
- Data collection facilitated by medical students as part of SCTS Students programme
- Clear and easy to follow protocol with anonymised data sharing
- Site pack provided with step by step guide on how to collect data and data collection sheet
- Step by step video a guide to demonstrate how to use the site pack for MERITS and how to perform data collection
Analysis
Supported by the Papworth Audit department and Cambridge University Statistics.