The New National Registry for Gastrointestinal Surgery in Norway: NoRGast

There is an increasing demand for high-quality data for the outcome of health care. Diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract involve large patient groups often presenting with serious or life-threatening conditions. Complications may affect treatment outcomes and lead to increased mortality or reduced quality of life. A continuous, risk-adjusted monitoring of major complications is important to improve the quality of health care to patients undergoing gastrointestinal resections. We present the development of the Norwegian Registry for Gastrointestinal Surgery, a national registry for colorectal, upper gastrointestinal, and hepato-pancreato-biliary resections in Norway. A narrative and qualitative presentation of the development and current state of the registry. We present the variables and the analysis tools and provide examples for the potential in quality improvement and research. Core characteristics include a strictly limited set of variables to reflect important risk factors, the procedure performed, and the clinical outcomes. A registry with the potential to present complete national cohort data is a powerful tool for quality improvement and research