QUIPS and PAIN OUT - two registries for quality improvement in perioperative pain management

QUIPS and PAIN OUT are registry-based benchmark projects aiming to improve postoperative pain management quality. Process and patient-reported outcome parameter are collected, analysed, and fed back to participating hospitals. QUIPS runs under the umbrella of the German Societies of Anaesthesiology and Surgery (DGAI, DGCH), its professional organisations (BDA, BDC) and the Austrian Society of Anaesthesiology. It has become the routine tool for quality management at more than 130 sites. The registry contains more than 150.000 data sets. PAIN OUT is the international counterpart of QUIPS, funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme. Developed by 17 participants from 9 countries, it will offer such additional services as case-based clinical decision support, a guideline data bank and a health economic benchmark module. The idea is to merge it with QUIPS.