Creating a general practice national minimum data set: present possibility or future plan?

AIM

To assess the feasibility of implementing the recommendations of the New Zealand National Minimum Data Set working party in computerised general practices.

METHOD

Doctors from 12 computerised general practices belonging to the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners' Dunedin Research Unit Computer Network participated in the study (five Dunedin practices, four in rural Otago and Southland, and three in Christchurch). A three-month sample of data was extracted from practice computers and evaluated for completeness and compliance to the national minimum data set structure. Rates of recording practice identifier, provider, patient identifiers, sex, ethnicity, government subsidy eligibility, consultation identifier and date, prescriptions and Read codes were calculated for each practice.

RESULTS

Apart from data recorded automatically by computers, there was a wide range in the extent of missing data. Of the data requiring manual computer entry, patient demography and subsidy eligibility were most comprehensively recorded (date of birth 99.9%, sex 99.6%, eligibility to subsidies 98.5%). Data with little immediate clinical or management relevance were poorly recorded (Read codes 32.4% and ethnicity 5.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

It is possible to derive a common minimum data set from different computerised general practices. However some data elements will be missing unless suitable education and support are provided for the doctors and other staff members who record patient information.