Assessing healthcare service quality using routinely collected data: Linking information systems in emergency care
Open Access
- 8 May 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Journal of Medical Systems
- Vol. 44 (6), 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-020-01572-z
Abstract
Emergency departments need to continuously calculate quality indicators in order to perform structural improvements, improvements in the daily routine, and ad-hoc improvements in everyday life. However, many different actors across multiple disciplines collaborate to provide emergency care. Hence, patient-related data is stored in several information systems, which in turn makes the calculation of quality indicators more difficult. To address this issue, we aim to link and use routinely collected data of the different actors within the emergency care continuum. In order to assess the feasibility of linking and using routinely collected data for quality indicators and whether this approach adds value to the assessment of emergency care quality, we conducted a single case study in a German academic teaching hospital. We analyzed the available data of the existing information systems in the emergency continuum and linked and pre-processed the data. Based on this, we then calculated four quality indicators (Left Without Been Seen, Unplanned Reattendance, Diagnostic Efficiency, and Overload Closure). Lessons learned from the calculation and results of the discussions with staff members that had multiple years of work experience in the emergency department provide a better understanding of the quality of the emergency department, the related challenges during the calculation, and the added value of linking routinely collected data.Keywords
Funding Information
- Universität Augsburg
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Kerndatensatz „Notaufnahme“ der DIVINotfall + Rettungsmedizin, 2014
- Improvement of clinical quality indicators through reorganization of the acute care by establishing an emergency department-a register study based on data from national indicators.Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 2014
- Time Series Modelling and Forecasting of Emergency Department OvercrowdingJournal of Medical Systems, 2014
- Unscheduled return visits to a Dutch inner-city emergency departmentInternational Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2014
- Health care quality in a new Emergency Department based on the Danish Stroke register dataScandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 2013
- Triage in der NotaufnahmeTrauma und Berufskrankheit, 2013
- Evaluation of emergency department performance – a systematic review on recommended performance and quality-in-care measuresScandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 2013
- Patients who present to the emergency department and leave without being seenEuropean Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2013
- Chief complaints in medical emergenciesEuropean Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2013
- Estimating the Degree of Emergency Department Overcrowding in Academic Medical Centers: Results of the National ED Overcrowding Study (NEDOCS)Academic Emergency Medicine, 2004