Patients, diagnoses and processes in general practice in the Nordic countries. An attempt to make data from computerised medical records available for comparable statistics.
OBJECTIVE
To try out a collection of a standard set of data from computerised medical records.


METHODS
Retrospective extraction of ordinary patient record information put into the computer by general practitioners.


METHODS
Encounters in office hours in strategically selected practices or health centres in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.


METHODS
59 general practitioners and a total study population of 97475 persons.


METHODS
Proportions, crude and specific rates of encounters, diagnoses and processes.


RESULTS
In a 4-week period there was a threefold difference in the office encounter rates between the participating sites in the Nordic countries. Gender and age patterns were similar despite these differences. An access to several different denominators revealed diverse patterns of referring to the specialist, prescribing, ordering blood tests, X-rays and physiotherapy. Data from computerised medical records agree well with earlier studies in the Nordic countries using other methods.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey demonstrates that valid and reliable data for routine statistics are available from computerised medical records in general practice. The major obstacle extracting more epidemiological data from computerised medical records is caused by information in the databases not being uniquely linked to episodes of care.
Grimsmo
A
A
Community Health Research Centre, Surnadal, Norway. anders.grimsmo@medisin.ntnu.no
Hagman
E
E
Faikø
E
E
Matthiessen
L
L
Njálsson
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D008297:Male; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries