Reliability of Information Abstracted from Diabetic Patients' Medical Records in Palestine
Date
2017-09-27
Authors
El Sharif, Nuha A
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Background: Questionnaire based surveys are an
importance tool in epidemiology and public health
research. Although there may be a certain degree of bias
in this quality of care assessment tool since some of these
measurements may be misleading, it remains an
inexpensive tool for such assessments. The quality of
services provided to diabetic patients in Palestine has not
been studied previously. This study provides a context for
the measurement of the quality of care of patients with
diabetes.
Objectives: To evaluate the agreement on testing at the
proper time between self-report and medical record in
primary care centers in the West Bank.
Methods: Data from interviews and medical records were
available on 882 diabetic patients attending nine primary
health care centers in Palestine. Cohen's kappa coefficient
(k), agreement beyond chance, between data provided in
patient medical record and self-report was calculated.
Results: Agreement on testing at the proper time
between self-report and medical record was poor to fair
in strength (k: 0.06- 0.28), and was poor to substantial (k:
0.10- 0.70) for diabetes comorbids. After adjustment,
clinic location and ownership were strong determinants
for agreement in the proper time of testing. Also, the
personal characteristic age and gender were the most
important factors in determining comorbids in those
patients.
Conclusion: The evaluation of the quality of care based on
medical records should be treated with great caution in
Palestine since it’s a manual process. However, reliance
on both sources of information is useful to establish
monitoring tools on which decisions can be based.
Description
Keywords
Diabetes , Reliability , Medical records
Citation
Sharif NAE (2017) Reliability of Information Abstracted from Diabetic Patients' Medical Records in Palestine. Health Sci J. Vol. 11 No. 5: 526.