Evaluating patient data quality in South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service Data Warehouse, 2017-2020: implications for monitoring child health programmes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), the only clinical laboratory service in the country's public health sector, is an important resource for monitoring public health programmes.

Objectives

We describe NHLS data quality, particularly patient demographics among infants, and the effect this has on linking multiple test results to a single patient.

Methods

Retrospective descriptive analysis of NHLS data from 1^st January 2017-1^st September 2020 was performed. A validated probabilistic record-linking algorithm linked multiple results to individual patients in lieu of a unique patient identifier. Paediatric HIV PCR data was used to illustrate the effect on monitoring and evaluating a public health programme. Descriptive

SUBMITTER: Radebe L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9241268 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature