Data quality
- Site Visits
- Objectives
(1) To maintain the quality of data by understanding the specific conditions at each facility and providing tailored guidance to minimize the burden on staff.
(2) To directly gather feedback and address any system issues or concerns raised by the facilities.
(3) To establish personal connections ("face familiarity") to facilitate smoother communication in the future. - Specific activities
(1) Participating in morning rounds and conferences
(2) Observing the data entry systems in use and the actual data entry process.
(3) Offering suggestions related to the operation of JIPAD and responding to any questions that may arise. - Achievements
(1) Site visits commenced in March 2015.
(2) Although the visits became challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020, as of December 2022, a total of 85 facilities have been visited.
- The Query System
- To minimize human error during the data collection process, we developed the following procedure based on interactions between participating ICU/PICUs and administrators (e.g., analysts):
(1) Participating facilities upload data for 10 cases at a time.
(2) The administrators review the data and provide feedback on any errors or issues identified.
(3) The participating facilities review the feedback, make necessary corrections, and re-upload the data.
(4) Based on the feedback, facilities proceed to enter the next set of 10 cases.
(5) This process continues until all 10 cases are free of errors, after which the facility can freely upload data.
- Irregular Review
- After the query system is completed, a random selection of 10 cases is reviewed every few months, and feedback is provided on any errors found.
- This process helps maintain ongoing data accuracy.
- Memo
- Both ANZICS and ICNARC conduct data entry audits (for example, ICNARC, with sufficient resources, checks all cases by default).
- In facilities where the query system is implemented,basic errors typically decrease significantly after trial entries of 50-60 cases. Repeating this process when primary data entry personnel change ensures data quality.
- Although the query system was introduced to improve data accuracy,it has also helped identify not only human entry errors but also design flaws in the CSV output formats used by facilities.