Abstract
Background and objective
We aimed to determine whether audit, feedback, and education improves surgical performance after transurethral resection of bladder tumour surgery for non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer and as a secondary aim if it reduced recurrence rates.
Methods
This cluster randomised controlled trial compared audit and feedback plus peer comparison and education, with audit alone for four coprimary outcomes: (1) Single-instillation chemotherapy, (2) detrusor muscle sampling, (3) documentation of tumour features, and (4) resection completeness. Early recurrence was a secondary outcome. Key findings and limitations A total of 100 sites were randomised to intervention and 101 to control. In total, 14 915 patients were included. Intervention sites significantly improved documentation of tumour features (adjusted mean difference [95% confidence interval {CI}]: 6.0 [1.8, 10], p = 0.005) and of resection completeness (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 5.5 [1.5, 9.5], p = 0.007). There was no statistically significant difference in chemotherapy use (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 0.3 [–4.7, 5.3], p = 0.9) or detrusor muscle sampling (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 2.6 [–1.3, 6.4], p = 0.2). There was no statistically significant difference in early recurrence rate between arms (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.02 [0.8, 1.4], p = 0.9); however, in the control arm, the early recurrence rate reduced compared with baseline (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 0.7 [0.6, 0.9]).
Conclusions and clinical implications
Audit and feedback with education improved the documentation of important surgical findings that influence clinical management, but not the performance of detrusor muscle sampling, adjuvant chemotherapy use, or early recurrence rates. Improvements observed in the control arm may explain a lack of effect of the intervention in some outcomes.
We aimed to determine whether audit, feedback, and education improves surgical performance after transurethral resection of bladder tumour surgery for non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer and as a secondary aim if it reduced recurrence rates.
Methods
This cluster randomised controlled trial compared audit and feedback plus peer comparison and education, with audit alone for four coprimary outcomes: (1) Single-instillation chemotherapy, (2) detrusor muscle sampling, (3) documentation of tumour features, and (4) resection completeness. Early recurrence was a secondary outcome. Key findings and limitations A total of 100 sites were randomised to intervention and 101 to control. In total, 14 915 patients were included. Intervention sites significantly improved documentation of tumour features (adjusted mean difference [95% confidence interval {CI}]: 6.0 [1.8, 10], p = 0.005) and of resection completeness (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 5.5 [1.5, 9.5], p = 0.007). There was no statistically significant difference in chemotherapy use (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 0.3 [–4.7, 5.3], p = 0.9) or detrusor muscle sampling (adjusted mean difference [95% CI]: 2.6 [–1.3, 6.4], p = 0.2). There was no statistically significant difference in early recurrence rate between arms (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.02 [0.8, 1.4], p = 0.9); however, in the control arm, the early recurrence rate reduced compared with baseline (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 0.7 [0.6, 0.9]).
Conclusions and clinical implications
Audit and feedback with education improved the documentation of important surgical findings that influence clinical management, but not the performance of detrusor muscle sampling, adjuvant chemotherapy use, or early recurrence rates. Improvements observed in the control arm may explain a lack of effect of the intervention in some outcomes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | European Urology |
| Early online date | 24 Dec 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 24 Dec 2025 |
Keywords
- Non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer
- Audit and feedback
- Quality performance indicators
- Implementation science
- Quality improvement