Measuring the completeness and currency of codified clinical information.
OBJECTIVE
The paper describes how an objective score (CCscore) of the 'completeness' and 'currency' of codified clinical information relevant to the management of diabetes mellitus may be derived for individual practices.


METHODS
A questionnaire was developed and administered to 35 practices and statistical methods were used to test for correlation between the prevalence for diabetes mellitus and the relevant CCscores


RESULTS
No significant correlation could be found.


CONCLUSIONS
The 'quality' of computer-stored information varies widely across English General practices for reasons that are incompletely understood. We demonstrated how CCscores may be calibrated for different 'views' of 'relevance', 'completeness', and 'currency' and yet be consistent across practices for a given 'view'. The potential value of this score and how it may contribute to our understanding of variation in 'information quality' are discussed.
Williams
J G
JG
Department of Primary Care, Postgraduate Medical School, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. j.g.williams@surrey.ac.uk
D019985:Benchmarking; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000592:standards*; D008501:Medical Records, Problem-Oriented / Q000592:standards*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011786:Quality Control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom