Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Fungal bloodstream infection (BSI) is of increasing concern in the hospital environment. This study compared routine hospital discharge data at two inner Sydney hospitals with a pathology database over a 6-year period. A high level of underreporting was found, with only 42% of the pathology database cases assigned an appropriate code in the hospital discharge data despite evidence of the infection being found in 97% of the medical records identified from the pathology database. The location of the evidence in the medical record had an impact on whether or not the infection was assigned a code. There was a greater likelihood that a code would be assigned if the infection was documented on the front sheet of the medical record. Improvements can be made to the reporting of fungal BSI if clinicians record it on the front sheet and if coders review the whole medical record before coding.

Keywords

Candidaemia fungaemia hospital discharge data coding

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alechna

Westbrook

Roberts

(1998/1999). The quality of burns coding. Compliance with standards and the effects on clinical data. Health Information Management Journal 28(4): 181–185.

Australian Infection Control Association (2001). National surveillance of healthcare association infection in Australia. Canberra, Australian Infection Control Association.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2002). Australia's Health 2002. Canberra, AIHW.

Clark

T. A.

Hajjeh

R. A.

(2002). Recent trends in the epidemiology of invasive mycoses. Current Opinions in Infections Diseases 15: 569–574.

Commonwealth of Australia (2002). Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups. (AR-DRGs)(version 5.0, vol. 3). Canberra, Department of Health and Ageing.

Dimitopoulos

Bennett

McIntosh

(2001). Coding productivity in Sydney public hospitals. Health Information Management Journal 30(3): 1–7.

Donoghue

(1992). The prevalence and cost of documentation and coding errors. Australian Medical Record Journal 22(3): 91–97.

Fridkin

S. K.

Jarvis

W. R.

(1996). Epidemiology of nosocomial fungal infections. Clinical Microbiology Review 9(4): 499–511.

Garbino

Kolarova

Rohner

Lew

Pichna

Pittet

(2002). Secular trends of candidemia over 12 years in adults patients at a tertiary care hospital. Medicine 81: 425–433.

10.

Health Information Management Association of Australia (2002). Introduction to Coding with ICD-10-AM (Third edition). North Ryde, Health Information Management Association of Australia.

11.

Kao

A. S.

Brandt

M. E.

Pruitt

W. R.

Conn

L. A.

Perkins

B. A.

Stephens

D. S.

Baughman

W. S.

Reingold

A. L.

Rothrock

G. A.

Pfaller

M. A.

Pinner

R. W.

Hajjeh

R. A.

(1999). The epidemiology of candidaemia in two United States cities: Results of a population-based active surveillance. Clinical Infectious Diseases 29: 1164–1170.

12.

Macphail

G. L. P.

Taylor

G. D.

Buchanan-Chell

Ross

Wilson

Kureishi

(2002). Epidemiology, treatment and outcomes of candidemia: A five year review at three Canadian hospitals. Mycoses 45: 141–145.

13.

National Centre for Classification in Health (2004). ICD-10-AM.(Fourth edition). Sydney, NCCH.

14.

National Coding Centre (1996). The Australian Version of the ICD-9-CM. (Second edition). Sydney, National Coding Centre.

15.

Niewerth

Korting

H. C.

(2002). Candida albicans and the principle of opportunism. An essay. Mycoses 45: 253–258.

16.

Powell

Lim

L. H.

Heller

R. F.

(2001). Accuracy of administrative data to assess comorbidity in patients with heart disease: An Australian perspective. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 54: 687–693.

17.

Reid

(1991). The effect of coding on the allocation of DRGs. Australian Studies in Health Service Administration No. 70. Kensington, School of Health Services Management, The University of NSW.

18.

Rentz

A. M.

Halpern

M. T.

Bowden

(1998). The impact of candidemia on length of hospital stay, outcome and overall cost of illness. Clinical Infectious Diseases 27 (4): 784–788.

19.

Slavin

M. A.

and the Australian Mycology Interest Group (2002). The epidemiology of candidaemia and mould infections in Australia. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (49) Supp. S1: 3–6.

20.

Stratov

Gottlieb

Bradbury

O'Kane

G. M.

(1998). Candidaemia in an Australian teaching hospital: Relationship to central line and TPN use. Journal of Infection 36: 203–207.

21.

Viudes

Peman

Canton

Ubeda

Lopez-Ribot

J. L.

Gobernado

(2002). Candidemia at a tertiary-care hospital: Epidemiology, treatment, clinical outcome and risk factors for death. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 21: 767–774.

A Comparison of Two Sources of Data on Fungaemia in Two Hospitals

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References