“Data quality assessment of a South African electronic registry for drug-resistant TB, 2015-2016”
A new publication was just released in Public Health Action which involved investigators from VUMC, and the Aurum Institute. The goal of the project was to ensure EDRWeb data reflect programmatic DR-TB source data, and implement a data quality improvement initiative.
Design: The team conducted data quality assessments of EDRWeb data compared to paper patient folders at two South African RR-TB treatment facilities in 2015 and 2016. They assessed 80 patient records before the intervention for completeness of clinically relevant data fields, and 80 different records after the intervention for completeness and concordance. The intervention involved reviewing and updating EDRWeb along with data quality audits with direct feedback to sites.
Results: At baseline data completeness per site was lowest for variables related to electrocardiogram (ECG) data, adverse events, and concomitant medications (completeness for these fields ranged from 0% to 80%). Post-intervention data completeness and concordance were high for all fields except those related to ECG data (ECG-related field completeness ranged from 10% to 100%).
Conclusion: After a data quality initiative, data completeness improved at each site with the exception of ECG data fields. Our findings suggest that data quality interventions may improve patient clinical registries, ultimately enabling better evidence-based decision making for TB programmes.
Full Citation: Manesen R, Mekler KA, Molobi TR, Tyiki AA, Madlavu MJ, Velen K, Charalambous S, van der Heijden YF. Data quality assessment of a South African electronic registry for drug-resistant TB, 2015-2016. Public Health Action. 2021 Mar 21;11(1):33-39. doi: 10.5588/pha.20.0031. PMID: 33777719; PMCID: PMC7987250