title: Association of physicians' accuracy in recording with quality of care in cardiovascular medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physicians' adherence to cardiovascular (CV) guidelines has been found to be poor. In this regard, accuracy in keeping medical records could play an important role. This study was devised to describe which data are present in medical records from a large sample of physicians and to investigate the association and the link between completeness in recording and clinical appropriateness.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data extracted from medical records of 1078 doctors (general practitioners, cardiologists, and diabetologists) were analyzed, with a focus on CV prevention. The percentage of recorded data of several CV clinical variables was calculated. A multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the association between doctors' and patients' characteristics and different patterns in recording. Finally, the completeness in recording was calculated with a score and plotted against three indicators of appropriateness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The only risk factor that achieved a good standard of registration was blood pressure (89%). Low-density lipoprotein and waist circumference were largely under-recorded, whereas lifestyle data collection was almost negligible. Age, specialization, and use of electronic records increase the accuracy in recording. When one CV risk factor was predominant, the probability of having other risk factors recorded was reduced. A significant increase in the proportion of patients treated according to guidelines was found in doctors who were more accurate in recording.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A link exists between accuracy in recording with both quality of care and adherence to guidelines. Specific training of all doctors in this field should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Metabolism and Diabetes Unit, ASL Turin 5 and Chaira Medica Association, Chieri (TO), Italy. giordaca@tin.it
authors.forename: Carlo Bruno
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Giorda
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guida
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avogaro
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cortese
authors.forename: Gian Francesco
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Mureddu
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corsini
authors.forename: Marco Antonio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Comaschi
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Manzato
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.forename: Giovanni Battista
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Zito
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Medea
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ventriglia
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Titta
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riccardi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002309:Cardiology / Q000592:standards*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008019:Life Style; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008055:Lipids