Simone Wesselmann

• MD MBA
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie e.V.

Background In 2022, an update of the German lung cancer guideline, first published in 2010 and revised in 2018, was released. This article aims to show the process of updating, developing, and implementing guideline-based quality indicators (QI) into the certification system for lung cancer centers (LCC). Methods A multidisciplinary and interprofes...

Purpose Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. A successful screening concept for cervical cancer reduces the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. Quality indicators (QIs) derived from the screening guidelines for cervical cancer and used by the certified dysplasia units and dysplasia consultancies are evaluated...

Purpose In 2018, the first guideline-based quality indicators (QI) for vulvar cancer were implemented in the data-sheets of certified gynaecological cancer centres. The certification process includes guideline-based QIs as a fundamental component. These indicators are specifically designed to evaluate the level of care provided within the centres....

In cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft, DKG), patients are treated according to standardized criteria and registry data on tumor characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, codes, and quality indicators. These high-quality registry data from standardized quality-controlled routine care may be used for cancer...

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag skizziert die Bedeutung von Qualität für das Gesundheitswesen mit besonderem Fokus auf die Krankenhausstrukturplanung. Dabei wird von den Makroebenen – unter der Beachtung der Perspektive der Beitragszahlenden – bis zur konkreten Implementierung von Qualitätskriterien eine Einordung im Hinblick auf die derzeit geplante K...

BACKGROUND In contemporary healthcare, patient-centered care has emerged as a pivotal paradigm shift that redefines the traditional physician-centric model. Particularly in the context of cancer care, marked by its intricate nature and emotional impact, there's a pressing requirement to rethink how healthcare is delivered. In this context, Comprehe...

Collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is firmly established in clinical epidemiological research, but has so far only partially been adopted in routine cancer care. This article is intended to provide an overview of the possible benefits and current use of PROs in routine cancer care in Germany. Essential terms are defined, followed by a b...

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a scarcity of resources with various effects on the care of cancer patients. This paper provides an English summary of a German guideline on prioritization and resource allocation for colorectal and pancreatic cancer in the context of the pandemic. Based on a selective literature review as wel...

The German Cancer Society certification program for cancer centers and clinical cancer registries are two major instruments for quality assurance in oncological care in Germany. This article outlines the purpose and history of certification and clinical cancer registration, the associated data collection, and describes the collaboration and potenti...

Background Incontinence and sexual dysfunction are long-lasting side effects after surgical treatment (radical prostatectomy, RP) of prostate cancer (PC). For an informed treatment decision, physicians and patients should discuss expected impairments. Therefore, this paper firstly aims to develop and validate prognostic models that predict incontin...

Guideline-based quality indicators (QIs) are important for measuring and improving the quality of care in oncology. An analysis of the development, implementation, and updating of QIs in the German Guideline Program in Oncology was performed over a period of 6 years. Between 2016 and 2022, 244 QIs were derived from 31 guidelines, of which 37.5% wer...

In addition to erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence is the most common functional limitation after radical prostatectomy (RPE) for prostate cancer (PCa). The German S3 guideline recommends informing patients about possible effects of the therapy options, including incontinence. However, only little data on continence from routine care in Germ...

Purpose: In 2008, the first gynecological cancer centres were certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG). Guideline-based quality Indicators (QIs) are a core element of the certification process. These QI are defined to assess the quality of care within the centres and can serve to measure the implementation of guideline recommendation. This art...

Diese Ausgabe des Versorgungs-Reports widmet sich schwerpunktmäßig der Bedeutung von medizinischen Leitlinien in der Gesundheitsversorgung. Leitlinien geben den Behandelnden diagnostische und therapeutische Empfehlungen an die Hand. Sie werden nach systematischen und evidenzbasierten Kriterien entwickelt und zielen darauf ab, die Versorgungsqualitä...

e17102 Background: Besides erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence is the most common functional impairment after radical prostatectomy (RP) for localized and (locally) advanced prostate cancer (PCa). Clinical guidelines recommend informing patients about incontinence and other functional impairment of the different therapy options. Yet, real-wo...

Introduction: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare diseases. A high level of standardization and centralisation was lacking in Germany until 2018. Methods: By developing an evidence-based guideline and a certification system for sarcoma centres, foundations for structured, guideline-based and centralised sarcoma care were defined. First results o...

Background The certification system of the German Cancer Society (DKG) is tumor entity-specific and based on S3 guidelines. Therefore, quality indicators (QI) of these guidelines are included in the catalogues of certification requirements and data sheets as tumor-specific indicators. Furthermore, there are some universal indicators that apply to a...

Zusammenfassung Analysen zur Gesundheits- und Krankenversorgung (im Folgenden „Versorgungsanalysen“) haben meist das Ziel, die Strukturen, Prozesse, Ergebnisse und Wirkzusammenhänge von Versorgung transparent zu machen und den Zielerreichungsgrad von Gesundheitssystemen und ihrer Akteure zu erfassen. Versorgungsnahe Daten sind für viele Versorgungs...

Background: In this observational study, patient-reported outcomes and short-term clinical outcome parameters in patients with colorectal cancer were studied 12 months after the start of treatment. Outcomes were also compared across German Certified Colorectal Cancer Centres. Methods: Data were collected from 4239 patients with colorectal cancer...

Background The certification system of the German Cancer Society (DKG) has existed for 20 years and has repeatedly been the subject of investigations into the quality of care. But does a certificate also benefit the individual center?ResultsWhen deciding on certification, a center must weigh up the costs and benefits. Associated fears or concerns o...

Zusammenfassung Wie ist eine bessere Vernetzung von Medizinischen Leitlinien, Implementierung, Umsetzung und Messung des Outcomes in der onkologischer Versorgung möglich – sowohl für Erkrankte als auch für Leistungserbringer:innen ist Ziel der 2019 auf den Weg gebrachten Querschnitts-Arbeitsgruppe „Qualität und Vernetzung“. Der folgende Artikel gib...

Purpose Based on the example of Gynaecological Cancer Centres (GCCs) certified by the German Cancer Society, this study evaluates the results of medical-guideline-derived quality indicators (QIs) for cervical cancer (CC) and ovarian cancer (OC), examines the development of indicator implementation over time as well as the status of guideline-compli...

Purpose The extent of variation in urinary and sexual functional outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RPE) between prostate cancer (PC) operating sites remains unknown. Therefore, this analysis aims to compare casemix-adjusted functional outcomes (EPIC-26 scores incontinence, irritative/obstructive function and sexual function) between operating s...

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is frequently used in patients with early breast cancer. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated similar survival after NACT or adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). However, certain subtypes may benefit more when NACT contains regimes leading to high rates of pathologic complete response (pCR) rates. In this study we...

Purpose: Provision of psychosocial care is obligatory in cancer centers certified in accordance with the criteria of the German Cancer Society, but the extent to which it is utilized differs greatly between centers. Anomalous utilization percentages are discussed during certification audits. This analysis aims to describe (1) how certified centers...

Purpose: On the example of Gynaecological Cancer Centres (GCCs) certified by the German Cancer Society, this study evaluates results of medical guideline derived quality indicators (QIs) for cervical cancer (CC) and ovarian cancer (OC), examines how implementation of the indicators developed over the course-of-time, status of the guideline-complian...

Purpose Since 2008, guidelines recommend that patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer (BC) should receive adjuvant chemotherapy in combination with trastuzumab in Germany. However, recent studies highlight that a substantial share of patients do not receive trastuzumab. We investigate which patient characteristics are associated with a tumo...

PurposeSocial service counseling (SSC) is an important instrument to support cancer patients, for example, regarding legal support, or rehabilitation. Several countries have established on-site SSC in routine care. Previous analyses have shown that SSC utilization varies across cancer centers. This analysis investigates patient and center-level pre...

Aim This update of the interdisciplinary S3 guideline on the Diagnosis, Therapy and Follow-up of Cervical Cancer (AWMF Registry No. 032/033OL) was published in March 2021. This updated guideline was funded by German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe) as part of the German Guideline Program in Oncology. The guideline was coordinated by the German Soci...

Aim This is an update of the interdisciplinary S3-guideline on the Diagnosis, Therapy and Follow-up of Cervical Cancer (AWMF Registry No. 032/033OL), published in March 2021. The work on the updated guideline was funded by German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe) as part of the German Guideline Program in Oncology. The guideline was coordinated by t...

Zusammenfassung Die Corona-Pandemie hat nahezu alle Bereiche des Gesundheitswesens, aber gerade auch die Onkologie stark beeinflusst. Anhand unterschiedlicher Datenquellen werden die ambulante und stationäre Entwicklung onkologischer Fälle insgesamt sowie am Beispiel des Kolorektalen Karzinoms (KRK) die Auswirkungen der Pandemie auf diagnostische u...

Background Colorectal cancer is associated with considerable impairment of quality of life as well as disease-specific symptoms and functional limitations. These can be assessed using standardized patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments such as the EORTC QLQ-C30 and CR29 questionnaires. To date, no systematic investigation exists regarding which...

Introduction: As part of the development of the evidence-based (S3) clinical practice guidelines for kidney and bladder cancer by the German Guideline Program in Oncology, quality indicators (QIs) were defined to measure the quality of care. Based on these guidelines and QIs, the German Cancer Society (DKG) developed two new certification systems....

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly being used to compare the quality of outcomes between different healthcare providers (medical practices, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities). However, such comparisons can only be fair if differences in the case-mix between different types of provider are taken into account. This can be achieved w...

Background Since its beginnings in 2003, the certification system of the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft, DKG) has developed into the authoritative quality assurance initiative in oncology.Objectives Based on experience of recent years, the benefits and further development potential of the certification system are to be demonstrat...

An aim of the National Decade Against Cancer is to accelerate the transfer of achievements in cancer research into cancer care and to use the results of cancer care for research. The working group “Generate knowledge by networks of cancer research and cancer care” analyzes the current status of this strategy and proposes concepts for establishing f...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Neuroonkologischen Zentren Auditjahr 2020 / Kennzahlenjahr 2019

Background In the certified centers of the German Cancer Society, patients are treated with high quality. The quality of treatment is regularly checked and improved for all partners in the networks within the framework of the certifications. Funding for these special measures has only been provided in some contexts so far. In this paper, both the i...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Kopf-Hals-Tumor-Zentren Auditjahr 2020 / Kennzahlenjahr 2019

Background Integrated social care may help to mitigate social risk factors in order to achieve more equitable health outcomes. In cancer centers certified according to the criteria set out by the German Cancer Society, every patient must be given low-threshold access to qualified social workers at the center for in-house social service counseling (...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Brustkrebszentren Auditjahr 2020 / Kennzahlenjahr 2019

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Gynäkologischen Krebszentren Auditjahr 2020 / Kennzahlenjahr 2019

Background There has been increasing interest in integrating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into routine oncological practice. To date, however, PROs have rarely been implemented in Germany. Currently, PROs are being used as performance measures in colorectal cancer centers in Germany. This content analysis identified factors that may inhibit or...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Magenkrebszentren Auditjahr 2020 / Kennzahlenjahr 2019

Introduction Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can be used in cancer care to monitor patients’ disease-related symptoms and functional status. However, successful implementation of such instruments is only possible if clinical staff are convinced of the clinical benefits. It is therefore crucial to investigate the attitudes of clinical staff to PROs...

The National Cancer Plan emphasises the importance of medical communication and calls for its integration into medical education and training. In this context, the Milestone Communication Approach meets the communicative challenges in dealing with lung cancer patients. Interprofessional tandems, consisting of doctors and nurses, conduct structured...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Empfehlungen aus S3-Leitlinien (S3-LL) stellen eine wichtige Grundlage für die Entwicklung von Qualitätsindikatoren (QI) dar. Ein einheitliches methodisches Vorgehen zur Entwicklung von QI im Kontext von S3-LL existiert in Deutschland bisher nicht. Aus diesem Grund wurde ein methodischer Standard für die leitlinienbasie...

For most solid tumors, surgery is central to treatment. Studies show significant differences in quality between individual surgeons or health care organizations. Herein, we describe several challenges in the measurement of quality in (cancer) surgery. These include, for example, the complexity of the intervention, the weak evidence for the developm...

Purpose For patients with prostate cancer, validated and reliable instruments are essential for measuring patient-reported outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate the German version of the widely established Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite with 26 items (EPIC-26). Methods A German translation of the original questionnaire was test...

Purpose The self-reported functional status (sr-FS) of prostate cancer (PCa) patients varies substantially between patients and health-care providers before treatment. Information about this issue is important for evaluating comparisons between health-care providers and to assist in treatment decision-making. There have been few reports on correlat...

PurposeSince 2014, prostate cancer centers outside Germany (PCCoG) are eligible for certification according to the criteria set out by the German Cancer Society (DKG). These centers must fulfill the same requirements as their German counterparts. The article reports on the experiences of the first nine certified PCCoG, with a focus on their indicat...

Purpose: To give an overview of the multicenter Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study, involving paper-based and web-based collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) in patients undergoing local treatment for prostate cancer in certified centers in Germany. The PCO study is part of the larger Movember-funded TrueNTH Global Registry. The...

Background and objectiveThe discussion about quality of care is omnipresent. The complexity of measuring this is sometimes lost sight of. The article aims to provide an overview of the characteristics of colorectal cancer centers (CCC) that are relevant for the quality of care.ResultsAnalyzes of both the data collected in the certification system a...

Background: In recent years, germline testing of women with a risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer has increased rapidly. This is due to lower costs for new high-throughput sequencing technologies and the manifold preventive and therapeutic options for germline mutation carriers. The growing demand for genetic counseling meets a shortfall...

Zusammenfassung Anhand der Daten der DRG-Statistik wurde untersucht, wie sich die Versorgungssituation bei der chirurgischen Behandlung des Lungenkarzinoms in Deutschland darstellt und ob ein möglicher Zusammenhang zwischen Behandlungsvolumen und Hospitalletalität besteht. Ausgewertet wurden alle Behandlungsfälle der Jahre 2005 bis 2015 mit der Hau...

" There are more and more good reasons for using existing care data, with the focus in particular on the use of register data. The associated, clearly structured methodological procedure has so far been insufficiently combined, prepared and presented transparently. The German Network for Health Services Research (DNVF) has therefore set up an ad ho...

Introduction The Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study, funded by the Movember Foundation, has been recruiting patients in prostate cancer centers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG) since July 2016. It is a joint project of the Federal Prostate Cancer Self-Help Association (BPS), DKG, OnkoZert and meanwh...

Background The Comprehensive Cancer Care Networks (CCCNs) represent innovative approaches for the management of cancer patients consisting of multiple cooperating health units with specific expertise in the different steps of care. Quality Indicators (QIs) constitute valid and reliable tools that allow to measure the quality of care among similar s...

Background The aim of a cancer care system should be to give all patients access to a high-quality care that covers all components of the cancer continuum from early diagnosis to treatment and palliative care. Fragmentation of health services providers among different levels of care and lack of coordination among them is the main obstacle to achiev...

Eine qualitativ hochwertige Versorgung ohne Kommunikations- und Koordinationsbrüche erfordert bei vielen Krebs- und anderen Erkrankungen eine strukturierte Behandlung über Sektorengrenzen hinweg. Am Beispiel Brustkrebs werden zwei Versorgungskonzepte und deren Entwicklung beschrieben, die unabhängig voneinander seit Anfang dieses Jahrhunderts in De...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund 2018 wurde ein Update der 2013 erstmalig publizierten S3‐Leitlinie für die „Diagnostik, Therapie und Nachsorge des Melanoms“ im Rahmen des Leitlinienprogramms Onkologie (OL) mit einer Aktualisierung der bestehenden leitlinienbasierten Qualitätsindikatoren (QI) veröffentlicht. Patienten und Methodik Eine multidisziplinä...

Annual Report of the Certified Neuro-oncology Cancer Centres Audit year 2019 / Indicator year 2018

Annual Report of the Certified Skin Cancer Centres Audit year 2019 / Indicator year 2018

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Brustkrebszentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Annual Report of the Certified Breast Cancer Centres Audit year 2019 / Indicator year 2018

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Leberkrebszentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Magenkrebszentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie Für die Forschung am Menschen nehmen Ethikkommissionen (EK) eine unverzichtbare Überwachungs- und Regulierungsfunktion ein. Bei multizentrischen Beobachtungsstudien werden neben einem Erstvotum meist lokale Zweitvoten von den EKs der beteiligten Zentren gefordert. Ziel dieser Analyse ist es, einen Überblick über die...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Hautkrebszentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Prostatakrebszentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Neuroonkologischen Zentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Since 2016, certified prostate cancer centres have been able to participate in the Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study. The aim of this study is to compare outcomes across centres after local treatment for prostate cancer. The study originated from a support group initiative and is jointly carried out by the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsge...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Kinderonkologischen Zentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Background In 2018, an update of the German evidence‐based (S3) guidelines “Diagnosis, Therapy and Follow‐up of Melanoma” first issued in 2013 was published under the auspices of the German Guideline Program in Oncology. The update also included a revision of existing guideline‐based quality indicators (QIs). Patients and methods Using a standardi...

Colorectal cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG) are defined as interprofessional, interdisciplinary networks aiming at optimizing care not only in a single institution but rather on a national level. Specifications and requirements are mainly based on the German S3 guidelines for the management of colorectal cancer and the na...

Jahresbericht der zertifizierten Pankreaskarzinomzentren Auditjahr 2019 / Kennzahlenjahr 2018

Annual Report of the Certified Pancreatic Cancer Centres Audit year 2019 / Indicator year 2018