A data quality framework for process mining of electronic health record data

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingsChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Reliable research demands data of known quality. This can be very challenging for electronic health record (EHR) based research where data quality issues can be complex and often unknown. Emerging technologies such as process mining can reveal insights into how to improve care pathways but only if technological advances are matched by strategies and methods to improve data quality. The aim of this work was to develop a care pathway data quality framework (CP-DQF) to identify, manage and mitigate EHR data quality in the context of process mining, using dental EHRs as an example. Objectives: To: 1) Design a framework implementable within our e-health record research environments; 2) Scale it to further dimensions and sources; 3) Run code to mark the data; 4) Mitigate issues and provide an audit trail. Methods: We reviewed the existing literature covering data quality frameworks for process mining and for data mining of EHRs and constructed a unified data quality framework that met the requirements of both. We applied the framework to a practical case study mining primary care dental pathways from an EHR covering 41 dental clinics and 231,760 patients in the Republic of Ireland. Results: Applying the framework helped identify many potential data quality issues and mark-up every data point affected. This enabled systematic assessment of the data quality issues relevant to mining care pathways. Conclusion: The complexity of data quality in an EHR-data research environment was addressed through a re-usable and comprehensible framework that met the needs of our case study. This structured approach saved time and brought rigor to the management and mitigation of data quality issues. The resulting metadata is being used within cohort selection, experiment and process mining software so that our research with this data is based on data of known quality. Our framework is a useful starting point for process mining researchers to address EHR data quality concerns.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics, ICHI 2018
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages12-21
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781538653777
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Jul 2018
Event6th IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics, ICHI 2018 - New York, United States
Duration: 4 Jun 20187 Jun 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics, ICHI 2018

Conference

Conference6th IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics, ICHI 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew York
Period4/06/187/06/18

Keywords

  • Data Quality
  • EHR
  • Process Mining
  • Research Data

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