Certification of Surgical Spine Centre of Excellence (SSCoE)
The EUROSPINE Surgical Spine Centre of Excellence is a certification programme for spine surgical centres in hospitals throughout Europe, developed in 2017-18 in collaboration of EUROSPINE, the EUROSPINE Foundation (ESF) and a Task Force of leading individual members of the international spine community.
The European community seeks to promote excellence in health care across all member states, in spite of differences in the various national health care systems. The purpose of the SSCoE programme is to audit and certify the implementation of services that advance spine surgery and spine care as a whole, thereby enhancing treatment quality in spine surgery and providing guidance for patients with spinal disorders.
An SSCoE is an integrated multidisciplinary team of spine care professionals that truly collaborate and use standardised clinical protocols and business processes to deliver best practices in operative spine care. This “patient-centric” approach delivers continuous improvement in patient safety, patient outcomes, and patient satisfaction, while at the same time creating greater value and satisfaction for employees and other stakeholders.
To qualify forcertification, the spine centre must be a highly specialised institution with exceptional equipment, highly-qualified personnel, experience and competence in its field. Centres must meet strict requirements, from specialising in spine health, performing a minimum number of spine surgeries each year and leading regular, structured education sessions to implementing quality control mechanisms.
Hospitals and clinics can register for the procedure and then complete the checklist based on the catalogue of criteria. This forms the basis of the on-site audit, which is carried out by an certification company. With the guidelines for certification, every applicant has a clear catalogue with quantitative and qualitative requirements at hand.