title: Validity of anaesthetic complication coding data as a clinical indicator.
abstract: Clinical indicators using routinely collected International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) data offer promise as tools for improvement of quality. The ICD-10-AM is the coding system used by Australian administrators to summarise information from the clinical record to describe a patient's hospital encounter. The use of anaesthesia complications as coded by this system has been proposed by two jurisdictions as a monitor of the quality of anaesthetic services. We undertook a review of cases identified by such indicators in a large tertiary hospital. Our results indicate the anaesthesia indicator dataset proposed by the Victorian and Queensland Health departments appears to have little clinical or quality improvement relevance.
authors.affiliation: Southern Health, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia. andrewjones@sctelco.net.au
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Monagle
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peel
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Coghlan
authors.forename: Vangy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Malkoutzis
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groom
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000145:classification; D054869:Clinical Audit / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D059019:Clinical Coding / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases / Q000145:classification; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results