Data quality strategies in cohort studies: lessons from a study on delirium in nursing home elders.
Data quality has a direct impact on reliability and validity; however, procedures are usually briefly summarized in the Methods section of reports. Sustaining data quality and integrity over time can pose serious challenges, prompting the development of a data quality program based on Donabedian's quality framework. Although many are familiar with the structure, process, and outcome components in health care quality, their application to a research project may be unfamiliar. This article summarizes the data quality program for a cohort study of nursing home elders with delirium by providing an "insider's view" of procedures and protocols followed for several years.
Dyck
Mary J
MJ
John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity, Washington, DC, USA. mjdyck@ilstu.edu
Culp
Kennith
K
Cacchione
Pamela Z
PZ
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D003693:Delirium / Q000451:nursing*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results