Ten Years Experience with a Cumulative Psychiatric Patient Register

This paper describes the information system for a cumulative psychiatric patient case register which has been in operation for ten years in a community with a population of 700,000 persons. The structure of the data files and the general philosophy behind them are explained. The problems of accuracy and of intra-file and inter-file record linkage by name and matching are discussed. It is concluded that well-trained, careful clerical help are as important as elaborate computer editing programs for maintaining the highest possible level of accuracy.

Vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt das Informationssystem eines kumulativen psychiatrischen PatientenRegisters, das seit 10 Jahren in einer Gemeinde von 700,000 Einwohnern in Betrieb ist. Die Struktur der Dateien und ihre Grundkonzeption werden erläutert. Die Probleme der Genauigkeit und der Record Linkage innerhalb der und zwischen den Dateien werden diskutiert. Die Verfasser vertreten den Standpunkt, daß zur Erzielung eines möglichst hohen Grades von Zuverlässigkeit erfahrene und zuverlässige Dokumentationsassistenz genau so wichtig ist wie sorgfältige Computer-Ausgabe-Programme.

Key-Words

Patient Case Registers - Record Linkage - Record Processing - Epidemiology of Mental Disorders - Follow-up Studies - Information Systems

Schlüssel-Wörter

Patienten-Register - Record Linkage - klinische Datenverarbeitung - Epidemiologie von Geisteskrankheiten - Verlaufsstudien - Informationssysteme

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