Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38325408›Full record

Observational studyApplied clinical informatics2024

Creating a Medication Therapy Observational Research Database from an Electronic Medical Record: Challenges and Data Curation.

Wolfgang Rödle, Hans-Ulrich Prokosch, Eva Neumann, Irmgard Toni, Julia Haering-Zahn, Antje Neubert, Sonja Eberl

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Applied clinical informatics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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

7 authors.

Wolfgang RödleChair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Hans-Ulrich ProkoschChair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Eva NeumannDr Margarete Fischer Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, Germany.
Irmgard ToniDepartmant of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Julia Haering-ZahnDepartmant of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Antje NeubertDepartmant of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Sonja EberlDepartmant of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundObservational research has shown its potential to complement experimental research and clinical trials by secondary use of treatment data from hospital care processes. It can also be applied to better understand pediatric drug utilization for establishing safer drug therapy. Clinical documentation processes often limit data quality in pediatric medical records requiring data curation steps, which are mostly underestimated.

objectivesThe objectives of this study were to transform and curate data from a departmental electronic medical record into an observational research database. We particularly aim at identifying data quality problems, illustrating reasons for such problems and describing the systematic data curation process established to create high-quality data for observational research.

methodsData were extracted from an electronic medical record used by four wards of a German university children's hospital from April 2012 to June 2020. A four-step data preparation, mapping, and curation process was established. Data quality of the generated dataset was firstly assessed following an established 3 × 3 Data Quality Assessment guideline and secondly by comparing a sample subset of the database with an existing gold standard.

resultsThe generated dataset consists of 770,158 medication dispensations associated with 89,955 different drug exposures from 21,285 clinical encounters. A total of 6,840 different narrative drug therapy descriptions were mapped to 1,139 standard terms for drug exposures. Regarding the quality criterion correctness, the database was consistent and had overall a high agreement with our gold standard.

conclusionDespite large amounts of freetext descriptions and contextual knowledge implicitly included in the electronic medical record, we were able to identify relevant data quality issues and to establish a semi-automated data curation process leading to a high-quality observational research database. Because of inconsistent dosage information in the original documentation this database is limited to a drug utilization database without detailed dosage information.

Indexed as

Data CurationElectronic Health RecordsChildData AccuracyDatabases, FactualDocumentationHumans

Identifiers

PMID38325408
PMCPMC10849827

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Registered trials

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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.