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Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2005;16(4): 481-485. |
| Methodological Assessment of Medical Records Reviews in Articles in the Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine |
| Hyunwook Jeong, Tae Young Yu, Youngho Jin, Tae Oh Jeong, Jae Baek Lee |
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical School, Chonbuk National University, Korea. emjin@chonbuk.ac.kr
2Institute for Medical Science, Medical School, Chonbuk National University, Korea. |
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| ABSTRACT |
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this study is to enhance the quality of data by performing a methodological assessment of medical records reviews.
METHODS:
We reviewed the articles published in the Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine between January 2001 and December 2003 that used a retrospective medical records review as the study method. We assessed data collector's training, descriptions of inclusion/ exclusion criteria, definitions of important variables, use of standardized case record forms, monitoring the data collectors' performance, blind data collecting, inter-rater reliability/ test of inter-rater agreement, intra-rater reliability/test of intra-rater agreement, selection bias from consent, and rules regarding management of missing data.
RESULTS:
There were 111 articles that used retrospective medical records reviews during the study period. In 111 (100%) articles, inclusion/exclusion criteria were described, in 98 (88.3%), important variables were defined, and in 4 (3.6%), standardized case record forms were used.
However no articles addressed the other items on the checklist.
CONCLUSION:
Study conductors should design studies to enhance the quality of data, and detailed descriptions are necessary to improve the reproducibility of the study. |
| Key words:
Medical records, Retrospective studies, Methodology |
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