• Kristin M Corey, Joshua Helmkamp, Morgan Simons, Lesley Curtis, Keith Marsolo, Suresh Balu, Michael Gao, Marshall Nichols, Joshua Watson, Leila Mureebe, Allan D Kirk, and Mark Sendak.
• Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC; Duke Institute for Health Innovation, Duke University, Durham, NC. Electronic address: corey006@duke.com.
• J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2020 Mar 1; 230 (3): 295-305.e12.

BackgroundSignificant analysis errors can be caused by nonvalidated data quality of electronic health records data. To determine surgical data fitness, a framework of foundational and study-specific data analyses was adapted and assessed using conformance, completeness, and plausibility analyses.Study DesignElectronic health records-derived data from a cohort of 241,695 patients undergoing 412,182 procedures from October 1, 2014 to August 31, 2018 at 3 hospital sites was evaluated. Data quality analyses tested CPT codes, medication administrations, vital signs, provider notes, labs, orders, diagnosis codes, medication lists, and encounters.ResultsFoundational checks showed that all encounters had procedures within the inclusion period, all admission dates occurred before discharge dates, and race was missing for 1% of patients. All procedures had associated CPT codes, 69% had recorded blood pressure, pulse, temperature, respiration rate, and oxygen saturation. After curation, all medication matched RxNorm medication naming standards, 84% of procedures had current outpatient medication lists, and 15% of procedures had missing procedure notes. Study-specific checks temporally validated CPT codes, intraoperative medication doses were in conventional units, and of the 13,500 patients who received blood pressure medication intraoperatively, 93% had a systolic blood pressure >140 mmHg. All procedure notes were completed within less than 30 days of the procedure and 93% of patients after total knee arthroplasty had postoperative physical therapy notes. All patients with postoperative troponin-T lab values ≥0.10 ng/mL had more than 1 ECG with relevant diagnoses. Postoperative opioid prescription decreased by 8.8% and nonopioid use increased by 8.8%.ConclusionsHigh levels of conformance, completeness, and clinical plausability demonstrate higher quality of real-world data fitness and low levels demonstrate less-fit-for-use data.Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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