Brief Communications Data Hygiene: Important Step in Decision Making with Implications for Health IT Professionals

Abstract

Medical and health data that have been entered into an electronic data system in real-time cannot be assumed to be accurate and of high quality without verification. The adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) by many countries to the support care and treatment of patients illustrates the importance of high quality data that can be shared for efficient patient care and the operation of healthcare systems. This brief communication provides a high-level overview of an EHR system and practices related to high data quality and data hygiene that could contribute to the analysis and interpretation of EHR data for use in patient care and healthcare system administration.