Hospital activity analysis: a source of information about serial hospital admissions.
This paper describes a method for linking serial hospital admissions for the same patient on the basis of existing Hospital Activity Analysis data. Details are given of a linkage procedure suitable for use with a computer, which takes account of possible errors in the recording of items of personal information. Applications of the procedure to give the clinician better access to information about previous hospital admissions and as a basis for monitoring the effectiveness of particular hospital-based procedures are described.
D003201:Computers; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D010355:Patient Identification Systems; D010359:Patient Readmission; D013222:State Medicine