An audit of the reliability of influenza vaccination and medical information extracted from eHealth records in general practice

Annette K Regan; Robyn A Gibbs; Paul V Effler

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.04.076

An audit of the reliability of influenza vaccination and medical information extracted from eHealth records in general practice

Vaccine. 2018 May 31;36(23):3195-3198. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.04.076. Epub 2018 Apr 30.

Authors

Annette K Regan¹, Robyn A Gibbs², Paul V Effler³

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6152 Australia; Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute, 100 Roberts Road, Subiaco, Western Australia 6008 Australia; Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Department of Health Western Australia, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park, Western Australia 6008, Australia. Electronic address: Annette.Regan@curtin.edu.au.
² Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Department of Health Western Australia, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park, Western Australia 6008, Australia.
³ Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Department of Health Western Australia, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park, Western Australia 6008, Australia; School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6008, Australia.

PMID: 29716772
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.04.076

Abstract

To evaluate the reliability of information in general practice (GP) electronic health records (EHRs), 2100 adult patients were randomly selected for interview regarding the presence of specific medical conditions and recent influenza vaccination. Agreement between self-report and data extracted from EHRs was compared using Cohen's kappa coefficient (k) and interpreted in accordance with Altman's Kappa Benchmarking criteria; 377 (18%) patients declined participation, and 608 (29%) could not be contacted. Of 1115 (53%) remaining, 856 (77%) were active patients (≥3 visits to the GP practice in the last two years) who provided complete information for analysis. Although a higher proportion of patients self-reported being vaccinated or having a medical condition compared to the EHR (50.7% vs 36.9%, and 39.4% vs 30.3%, respectively), there was "good" agreement between self-report and EHR for both vaccination status (κ = 0.67) and medical conditions (κ = 0.66). These findings suggest EHR may be useful for public health surveillance.

Keywords: Influenza; Influenza vaccines; Primary health care; Surveillance; Vaccination coverage; Vaccines and immunisation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Electronic Health Records*
Female
Health Care Surveys
Humans
Influenza Vaccines* / standards
Male
Middle Aged
Self Report
Vaccination / standards*
Vaccination / statistics & numerical data
Western Australia

Substances

Influenza Vaccines