HCP Convenes Effort to Develop Global Cataract Surgery Data Standard
HCP Undertakes Project to Develop Data Standards with Support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
With support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, HCP has recently undertaken a project to develop a Global Cataract Surgery Data Standard. We convened our second stakeholder meeting during the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) on June 18.
The Global Cataract Surgery Standard (GCSS) is a data definition designed to give cataract surgery programs in diverse clinical settings across the globe a structured and standardized way to capture essential and useful data. The goal is for cataract surgery program data to be comparable, so they can be used to optimize clinical outcomes, improve access and enhance efficiencies of cataract surgery.
The adoption of a standard is highly dependent on its usefulness. To make it useful requires Engagement from a broad base of stakeholders is required to help define, implement, test and evaluate the GCSS in clinical settings. We were thrilled with the participation of IAPB, Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, LV Prasad, SightSavers, The Fred Hollows Foundation, ORBIS International, SEE International, and clinicians from Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, US, Sierra Leone and Nepal.
To introduce and advance a standard, broad participation will help provide valuable insight into each organization’s requirements, gather clinical input into the data being proposed for the standard, identify challenges and barriers to good data gathering, and outline possible applications (clinical and research) of data analytics that should be prioritized.
