From Chaos to Consistency

Building a Long‑Lasting Polish Arthroplasty Registry Data Pipeline

Dominik Żabiński
dominikzabinski@gmail.com

Gruca Orthopaedic and Trauma Teaching Hospital, Otwock, Poland

May 8, 2026

Introduction

  • data analyst
  • Polish Arthroplasty Registry
  • analyst - clinician collaboration

Initial State

flowchart TB

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([Registry data.xlsx])
  d22([Registry data.csv])
  d13([Registry data.xlsx])
  d23([Registry data.csv])
  
  s11[/transform_v1.R/]
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s31[/vis_v1.R/]
  s12[/transform_v2.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s32[/vis_v2.R/]
  s13[/transform_v3.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  s33[/vis_v3.R/]
  
  t11[Excel]
  t12[Word]
  t21[Excel]
  t22[Power Point]
  t31[Excel]
  t32[Word]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pptx]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
subgraph data1 [ ]
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  d21
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subgraph output1 [ ]
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subgraph case1 [Annual Report]
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subgraph data2 [ ]
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  d22
end

subgraph script2 [ ]
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  s32
end

subgraph tool2 [ ]
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  t22
end

subgraph output2 [ ]
  o12
end

subgraph case2 [Conference Presentation]
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subgraph data3 [ ]
  direction LR
  d13
  d23
end

subgraph script3 [ ]
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  s23
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end

subgraph tool3 [ ]
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end

subgraph output3 [ ]
  direction LR
  o13
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subgraph case3 [Ad-hoc analysis]
  data3 --> script3
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case1 ---- case2
case2 ---- case3

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ETL

flowchart LR

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([database_1])
  d22([database_n])
  
  tn1[R]
  tn2[SQL]
  p1[art.etl]
  
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s31[/vis_v1.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s32[/vis_v2.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  s33[/vis_v3.R/]
  
  t11[Excel]
  t12[Word]
  t21[Excel]
  t22[Power Point]
  t31[Excel]
  t32[Word]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pptx]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
subgraph data1 [Source data]
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  d11
  d21
end

subgraph data2 [Transformed data]
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end

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end

tools --> packages

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  tn1
  tn2
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subgraph packages [ ]
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subgraph idd [ ]
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idd --> aaa

subgraph script1 [ ]
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end

subgraph output1 [ ]
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subgraph case1 [Annual Report]
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subgraph tool2 [ ]
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  t22
end

subgraph output2 [ ]
  o12
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subgraph case2 [Conference Presentation]
  direction LR
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subgraph tool3 [ ]
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  t32
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subgraph output3 [ ]
  direction LR
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subgraph case3 [Ad-hoc analysis]
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  case1 ---- case2
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Visualizations

flowchart LR

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([database_1])
  d22([database_n])
  
  tn1[R]
  tn2[SQL]
  p1[art.etl]
  p2[art.tbl]
  p3[art.fig]
  
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  
  t12[Word]
  t22[Power Point]
  t32[Word]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pptx]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
subgraph data1 [Source data]
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  d11
  d21
end

subgraph data2 [Transformed data]
  direction LR
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  d22
end

subgraph git1 [Github repository]
  direction LR
  tools
  packages
end

tools --> packages

subgraph tools [ ]
  tn1
  tn2
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subgraph packages [ ]
  p1
  p2
  p3
end

subgraph idd [ ]
  data1 --> git1
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idd --> aaa

subgraph script1 [ ]
  s21
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subgraph tool1[ ]
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end

subgraph output1 [ ]
  direction LR
  o11
  o21
end

subgraph case1 [Annual Report]
  direction LR
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end

subgraph tool2 [ ]
  direction LR
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end

subgraph output2 [ ]
  o12
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subgraph case2 [Conference Presentation]
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subgraph script3 [ ]
  s23
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subgraph tool3 [ ]
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end

subgraph output3 [ ]
  direction LR
  o13
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subgraph case3 [Ad-hoc analysis]
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Visualizations

Visualizations

LaTex

flowchart LR

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([database_1])
  d22([database_n])
  
  tn1[R]
  tn2[SQL]
  tn3[LaTeX]
  p1[art.etl]
  p2[art.tbl]
  p3[art.fig]
  p4[art.rep]
  
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pdf]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
subgraph data1 [Source data]
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  d11
  d21
end

subgraph data2 [Transformed data]
  direction LR
  d12
  d22
end

subgraph git1 [Github repository]
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  packages
end

tools --> packages

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subgraph packages [ ]
  p1
  p2
  p3
  p4
end

subgraph idd [ ]
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  git1 --> data2
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end

idd --> aaa

subgraph script1 [ ]
  s21
end

subgraph output1 [ ]
  direction LR
  o11
  o21
end

subgraph case1 [Annual Report]
  direction LR
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subgraph script2 [ ]
  s22
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subgraph output2 [ ]
  o12
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subgraph case2 [Conference Presentation]
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subgraph script3 [ ]
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subgraph output3 [ ]
  direction LR
  o13
  o23
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subgraph case3 [Ad-hoc analysis]
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  case2 ---- case3
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More (version) Control and POSIT

flowchart LR

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([database_1])
  d22([database_n])
  
  tn1[R]
  tn2[SQL]
  tn3[LaTeX]
  p1[art.etl]
  p2[art.tbl]
  p3[art.fig]
  p4[art.rep]
  
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pdf]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
subgraph data1 [Source data]
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  d21
end

subgraph data2 [Transformed data]
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  d22
end

subgraph git1 [Github - packages]
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tools --> packages

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subgraph packages [ ]
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subgraph idd [ ]
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github2 --> posit

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More (version) Control and POSIT

Shiny

flowchart LR

  d11([Registry data.xlsx])
  d21([Registry data.csv])
  d12([database_1])
  d22([database_n])
  
  tn1[R]
  tn2[SQL]
  tn3[LaTeX]
  p1["{art.etl}  {art.tbl}"]
  p3["{art.fig}  {art.rep}"]
  p5["{art.ifig} {art.itbl}"]
  p7["{art.stl}"]
  
  s21[/analyse_report.R/]
  s22[/analyse_conf.R/]
  s23[/analyse_adhoc.R/]
  
  o11[annual_report.docx]
  o21[supplementary.xlsx]
  o12[presentation.pdf]
  o13[custom_analyses.docx]
  o23[supplementary.xlsx]
  
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subgraph data2 [Transformed data]
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  d22
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tools --> packages

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  tn3
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subgraph packages [ ]
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subgraph idd [ ]
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idd --> aaa

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Summary

  • improved consistency in data processing and reporting
  • reduced annual report preparation time from 4 months to 4 weeks
  • increased delivery speed for new analytical documents
  • enabled rapid development of tailored applications

Slides are here: https://dominikzabinski.github.io/dominikzabinski-talks/rmed_2026/#