"Report Functionality" tool: A single page data summary screen for real-time data validation

Background: Frequently data in medical registries are inaccurately entered or missing. In 2008, CDC National Spina Bifida Patient Registry [NSBPR] was established to improve the quality of care for patients with spina bifida. To ensure optimal quality of registry data, systematic procedures including the report functionality tool were put in place. Before the tool was available, missing values were as high as 15% and data inaccuracy such as out-of-range and illogical values was common.

Objective: To assess usefulness of a web-based application tool for on-site data validation.

Method: In June 2010, nine participating spina bifida clinics began entering data into a web-based application. In October 2010, a new ‘Report Functionality' tool, a single page data summary screen, was embedded into the application. The tool prevents clinics from transmitting data to NSBPR if required data elements are missing. We compared the data quality between data transmitted before and after implementation of the tool.

Results: After the tool was embedded, missing values in core data elements (n=1464 patients) declined to <0.05% and data accuracy appeared to improve; e.g., invalid values of weight declined from 6% to <1%; height from 1% to <0.05%. Anecdotal reports from the clinics suggested that the tool did not delay data entry process and helped detect errors on-site.

Conclusion: Detecting and addressing errors in real-time is of critical importance for data validity, particularly in follow-up studies and registries where it may not always be feasible to retrieve missing data values or correct errors that occurred in the past.