From data to quality: the story of A-QUA, Switzerland's Anaesthesia QUAlity initiative and database
Christoph Karl Hofer, Sarah R. Haile, Remo Schmutz, Milo Alan Puhan, Michael Thomas Ganter · 2026
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Description
Christoph Karl Hofer's team tells the story of A-QUA, Switzerland's national anaesthesia quality registry, in a 2026 analysis. Launched by the Swiss anaesthesiology society, the programme tracks anaesthesia processes, events, and outcomes, yet its scale, take-up, and data quality had not been described. The team analysed routine case-level data from 2017 to 2024 across public and private providers.
By late 2024 the registry held over two million cases from 54 centres in all language regions, mostly from large teaching hospitals. General anaesthesia accounted for three-quarters of cases. Plausibility checks caught recurring preventable errors, and case studies showed regional variation in technique, timing, and postoperative destination. The programme offers a validated platform for benchmarking and targeted quality improvement. The registry keeps growing as more centres join.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Christoph Karl Hofer, Sarah R. Haile, Remo Schmutz, Milo Alan Puhan, Michael Thomas Ganter |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 46 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |