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“Baby Heart Project”: The Italian Project for Accreditation and Quality Management in Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

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Abstract

Optimization of the relationship between the supply and the demand for medical services should ideally be taken into consideration for the planning within each national Health System. Although government national health organizations embrace this policy specifically, the contribution of expert committees (under the scientific societies’ guarantee in any specific medical field) should be advocated for their capability to collect and analyze the data reported by the various national institutions. In addition, these committees have the competence to analyze the need for the resources necessary to the operation of these centers. The field of pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery may represent a model of clinical governance of particular interest with regard to programming and to a definition of the quality standards that may be extended to highly specialized institutions and ideally to the entire Health System. The “Baby Heart Project,” which represents a model of governance and clinical quality in the field of pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, was born from the spontaneous aggregation of a committee of experts, supported by duly appointed Italian Scientific Societies and guided by a national agency for accreditation. The ultimate aim is to standardize both procedures and results for future planning within the national Health System.

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Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge and thank Dr. Daniela Gabellini of CERMET, Bologna for her valuable assistance in the project design.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS, P.zza S. Onofrio, 4-00165, Rome, Italy

    Sonia B. Albanese, Gianluigi Perri & Giacomo Pongiglione

  2. Unit of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, G. Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Genoa, Italy

    Lucio V. Zannini

  3. Unit of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, John XXIII Hospital, Bergamo, Italy

    Giancarlo Crupi

  4. Unit of Cardiac Surgery, Hesperia Hospital, Modena, Italy

    Bruno Turinetto

Authors
  1. Sonia B. Albanese
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  2. Lucio V. Zannini
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  3. Gianluigi Perri
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  4. Giancarlo Crupi
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  5. Bruno Turinetto
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  6. Giacomo Pongiglione
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Consortia

The Baby Heart Committee

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sonia B. Albanese.

Additional information

Sonia B. Albanese, Lucio V. Zannini, and Giacomo Pongiglione are also members of The Baby Heart Committee.

Bruno Turinetto discloses financial relationship with CERMET (Bologna, Italy).

The members of Baby Heart Committee is composed by: Gaetano D. Gargiulo, Fernando M. Picchio, Carlo Pace Napoleone, Roberto Formigari, Ubaldo Rosati, Stephen P. Sanders, Roberto M. Di Donato, Stefano Luisi, Sandra Giusti, Michela Rial, Massimo Chessa, Mario Carminati, Alessandro Frigiola, Giuseppe Pomè, Giovanni Stellin, Ornella Milanesi, Massimo Padalino, Roberta Biffanti, Carlo F. Marcelletti†, Davide Calvaruso, Antonio Rubino, Nicoletta Salviato, Antonio Capodicasa, Stefano Longo, Pietro A. Abbruzzese, Donato Montemurro, Laura Odetto.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 3.

Table 3 Process requirements, namely those related to the patients’ management, defined according to the phases of diagnosis, treatment, and outcome
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Appendix 2

See Table 4.

Table 4 Specific pathologies/procedures (related to the patient’s age) with relevant product requirements
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Appendix 3

Details of product requirements for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, aortic coarctation, and transposition of the great arteries with intact ventricular septum See Tables 5, 6, and 7.

Table 5 Pathology profile: Hypoplastic left heart syndrome: patient age up to 30 days (neonate)
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Table 6 Pathology profile: Isolated coarctation of the aorta: patient age up to 30 days (neonate)
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Table 7 Pathology profile: Transposition of the great vessels with intact septum: patient age up to 30 days (neonate)
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Appendix 4

Details of product requirements: Tetralogy of Fallot, Complete Atrioventricular Septal Defect See Tables 8 and 9.

Table 8 Pathology profile: Tetralogy of Fallot: patient age of 1–12 months (infant)
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Table 9 Pathology profile: Complete AV septal defect: patient age of 1–12 months (infant)
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Appendix 5

Details of product requirements - Partial Atrioventricular Septal Defect, Subaortic Fibromuscolar Stenosis, Total Cavopulmonary Connection, Right Ventricle-Pulmonary Artery Conduit Replacement See Tables 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Table 10 Pathology profile: partial AV septal defect: age of 1–18 years
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Table 11 Pathology profile: Subaortic fibromuscolar stenosis: age of 1–18 years
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Table 12 Pathology profile: Total cavopulmonary connection: age of 1–18 years
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Table 13 Pathology profile: Right ventricle-pulmonary artery conduit replacement: age of 1–18 years (child)
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Table 14 Details of product requirements for chronic cardiac failure, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, critical aortic valve stenosis, pulmonary branch stenosis, and recoarctation
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Table 15 Definition criteria for the volume of surgical activity
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Appendix 6

See Table 14.

Appendix 7

Requirements for a tertiary pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery center handling both pediatric and adolescent patients defined by the professional accreditation model within the Baby Heart Project. See Table 15.

Appendix 8

See Table 16.

Table 16 Volumes of activity and results at Italian pediatric cardiac surgery and cardiologic centers (Baby Heart Project)
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Albanese, S.B., Zannini, L.V., Perri, G. et al. “Baby Heart Project”: The Italian Project for Accreditation and Quality Management in Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery . Pediatr Cardiol 35, 1162–1173 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-014-0910-x

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