Implementation of a national database infrastructure for registration of clinical procedures and as tool for national benchmarking

In the past years, organizations worldwide have put many efforts in establishing guidelines for the medical practice. However, it has become clear that in order to improve patient care it is necessary to check and ensure the adherence to the established guidelines. Therefore, in 2007, the Dutch Society of Cardiology (NVVC) has implemented a structure for national databases that will serve as benchmark tool for the quality assurance of the clinical outcome of cardiology procedures in all hospitals in the Netherlands. For this, the NVVC has instituted an independent foundation: the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR). The goal is implementation and management of various national databases. These databases will contain data on incidence and prevalence of various cardiovascular diseases, in combination with registration of numbers and results of procedures and interventions.