Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Data Quality: A Negotiator between Paper-based and Digital Records in the Pakistan’s TB Control Program

Syed Mustafa Ali
* ORCID logo ,
Farah Naureen
,
Arif Noor
,
Maged Kamel N. Boulos
,
Javariya Aamir
,
Muhammad Ishaq
,
Naveed Anjum
,
John Ainsworth
,
Aamna Rashid
,
Arman Majidulla
,
Irum Fatima
Version 1 : Received: 11 June 2018 / Approved: 12 June 2018 / Online: 12 June 2018 (10:34:33 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Ali, S.M.; Naureen, F.; Noor, A.; Kamel Boulos, M.N.; Aamir, J.; Ishaq, M.; Anjum, N.; Ainsworth, J.; Rashid, A.; Majidulla, A.; Fatima, I. Data Quality: A Negotiator between Paper-Based and Digital Records in Pakistan’s TB Control Program. Data 2018, 3, 27. Ali, S.M.; Naureen, F.; Noor, A.; Kamel Boulos, M.N.; Aamir, J.; Ishaq, M.; Anjum, N.; Ainsworth, J.; Rashid, A.; Majidulla, A.; Fatima, I. Data Quality: A Negotiator between Paper-Based and Digital Records in Pakistan’s TB Control Program. Data 2018, 3, 27.

Abstract

Background Increasingly, healthcare organizations are using technology for the efficient management of data. The aim of this study was to compare the data quality of digital records with the quality of the corresponding paper-based records by using data quality assessment framework. Methodology We conducted a desk review of paper-based and digital records over the study duration from April 2016 to July 2016 at six enrolled TB clinics. We input all data fields of the patient treatment (TB01) card into a spreadsheet-based template to undertake a field-to-field comparison of the shared fields between TB01 and digital data. Findings A total of 117 TB01 cards were prepared at six enrolled sites, whereas just 50% of the records (n=59; 59 out of 117 TB01 cards) were digitized. There were 1,239 comparable data fields, out of which 65% (n=803) were correctly matched between paper based and digital records. However, 35% of the data fields (n=436) had anomalies, either in paper-based records or in digital records. 1.9 data quality issues were calculated per digital patient record, whereas it was 2.1 issues per record for paper-based record. Based on the analysis of valid data quality issues, it was found that there were more data quality issues in paper-based records (n=123) than in digital records (n=110). Conclusion There were fewer data quality issues in digital records as compared to the corresponding paper-based records. Greater use of mobile data capture and continued use of the data quality assessment framework can deliver more meaningful information for decision making.

Keywords

mHealth; mobile data collection; data quality; data quality assessment framework; Tuberculosis control; developing countries

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Other

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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