title: Using routinely collected data for clinical research.
abstract: Clinical research involving prospective data collection in randomized controlled trials is not always feasible. Increasingly, hospitals are developing large clinical databases that are waiting to be mined. We have developed a computer program, ClinQuery, that facilitates such exploration and analysis. We have also shown in a series of studies that the use of clinical data is a powerful tool in health services research. In some cases, we have shown that coded data are inaccurate and that alternative clinical data are preferable. In other cases, a combination of clinical data and coded discharge diagnoses is preferable.
authors.affiliation: Charles A. Dana Research Institute, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safran
mesh_terms: D001900:Boston; D015510:Clinical Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D012984:Software