Researchers conducted a large cluster randomised controlled trial involving 14,915 patients across 201 sites. The study looked at patients undergoing transurethral resection of bladder tumour surgery. One group received audit and feedback plus peer comparison and education, while the other received audit alone. The goal was to see if these extra steps would change how doctors documented surgery or performed specific procedures.
The intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement in documenting tumor features and resection completeness compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the groups regarding the use of single-instillation chemotherapy or detrusor muscle sampling. Additionally, the rate of early recurrence was similar for both groups.
Safety concerns were not reported in this study. The main reason to be careful is that improvements seen in the control arm might explain why the intervention did not affect some outcomes. Readers should take from this that while documentation improved, the intervention did not change the performance of specific surgical steps or patient recurrence rates.