113
Views
11
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original papers

Sources of coding discrepancies in injury morbidity data: implications for injury surveillance

&
Pages 53-60 | Received 28 May 2009, Accepted 28 Aug 2009, Published online: 06 Oct 2009
 

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the sources of coding discrepancy for injury morbidity data and explore the implications of these sources for injury surveillance. An on-site medical record review and recoding study was conducted for 4373 injury-related hospital admissions across Australia. Codes from the original dataset were compared with the recoded data to explore the reliability of coded data and sources of discrepancy. The most common reason for differences in coding overall was assigning the case to a different external cause category with 9.5% assigned to a different category. Differences in the specificity of codes assigned within a category accounted for 7.8% of coder difference. Differences in intent assignment accounted for 3.7% of the differences in code assignment. In the situation where 8% of cases are misclassified by major category, the setting of injury targets on the basis of extent of burden is a somewhat blunt instrument. Monitoring the effect of prevention programs aimed at reducing risk factors is not possible in datasets with this level of misclassification error in injury cause subcategories. Future research is needed to build the evidence base around the quality and utility of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) classification system and the application of use of this for injury surveillance in the hospital environment.

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant with industry partners being Injury Prevention and Control Australia, the Victorian Department of Human Services, Queensland Health Information Centre, and the South Australian Department of Human Services. We wish to thank the three auditors who collected data for this study, Mr. Garry Waller, Ms. Jude Michel and Ms. Robyn Herrewyn.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 523.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.