Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31230000›Full record

Observational studyBMJ open2019

Observational study to determine the utility of hospital administrative data to support case finding of English patients at higher risk of severe healthcare-related harm.

Helen Hogan, Nora Cooke-O'Dowd, Kaushik Chattopadhyay, Jan van der Meulen, Christopher Sherlaw-Johnson, Nick Black

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Helen HoganHealth Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Nora Cooke-O'DowdNuffield Trust, London, UK.
Kaushik ChattopadhyayHealth Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Jan van der MeulenHealth Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Christopher Sherlaw-JohnsonNuffield Trust, London, UK.
Nick BlackHealth Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Funding

Department of Health PR-R9-0114-14001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo identify ways of using routine hospital data to improve the efficiency of retrospective reviews of case records for identifying avoidable severe harm

designDevelopment and testing of thresholds and criteria for two indirect indicators of healthcare-related harm (long length of stay (LOS) and emergency readmission) to determine the yield of specified harms coded in Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).

settingAcute National Health Service hospitals in England.

participantsHES for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), bowel cancer surgery and hip replacement admissions from 2014 to 2015.

interventionsCase-mix-adjusted linear regression models were used to determine expected LOS. Different thresholds were examined to determine the association with harm. Screening criteria for readmission included time to readmission, length of readmission and diagnoses in initial admission and readmission. The association with harm was examined for each criterion.

resultsThe proportions of AMI cases with a harm code increased from 14% among all cases to 47% if a threshold of three times the expected LOS was used. For hip replacement the respective increase was from 10% to 51%. However as the number of patients at these higher thresholds was small, the overall proportion of harm identified is relatively small (15%, 19%, 9% and 8% among AMI, urgent bowel surgery, elective bowel surgery and hip replacement cohorts, respectively). Selection of the time to readmission had an effect on the yield of harms but this varied with condition. At least 50% of surgical patients had a harm code if readmitted within 7 days compared with 21% of patients with AMI.

conclusionsOur approach would select a substantial number of patients for case record review. Many of these cases would contain no evidence of healthcare-related harm. In practice, Trusts may choose how many reviews it is feasible to do in advance and then select random samples of cases that satisfy the screening criteria.

Indexed as

Arthroplasty, Replacement, HipLength of StayPatient ReadmissionQuality ImprovementAgedEnglandFemaleHumansIatrogenic DiseaseIntestinal NeoplasmsMaleMyocardial InfarctionQuality Indicators, Health Carecase findinghealthcare-related harmhospital administrative data

Identifiers

PMID31230000
PMCPMC6596963

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.