This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schulz, E. Articles by Price, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schulz, E. Articles by Price, C.

Read Code Quality Assurance

From Simple Syntax to Semantic Stability

Affiliation of the authors: National Health Service (NHS) Centre for Coding and Classification, Loughborough, England.

Correspondence: Dr. Colin Price, NHS Centre for Coding and Classification, Woodgate, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 2TG, England. e-mail: <Colin.Price{at}nhsccc.exec.nhs.uk>.

Abstract As controlled clinical vocabularies assume an increasing role in modern clinical information systems, so the issue of their quality demands greater attention. In order to meet the resulting stringent criteria for completeness and correctness, a quality assurance system comprising a database of more than 500 rules is being developed and applied to the Read Thesaurus. The authors discuss the requirement to apply quality assurance processes to their dynamic editing database in order to ensure the quality of exported products. Sources of errors include human, hardware, and software factors as well as new rules and transactions. The overall quality strategy includes prevention, detection, and correction of errors. The quality assurance process encompasses simple data specification, internal consistency, inspection procedures and, eventually, field testing. The quality assurance system is driven by a small number of tables and UNIX scripts, with "business rules" declared explicitly as Structured Query Language (SQL) statements. Concurrent authorship, client-server technology, and an initial failure to implement robust transaction control have all provided valuable lessons. The feedback loop for error management needs to be short.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. A. Brandt, R. Gadagkar, C. Rodriguez, and P. M. Nadkarni Managing Complex Change in Clinical Study Metadata J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc., September 1, 2004; 11(5): 380 - 391. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A H Morris Decision support and safety of clinical environments Qual. Saf. Health Care, March 1, 2002; 11(1): 69 - 75. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. H. Morris Developing and Implementing Computerized Protocols for Standardization of Clinical Decisions Ann Intern Med, March 7, 2000; 132(5): 373 - 383. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]