Loading...
Hidden labour: The skilful work of clinical audit data collection and its implications for secondary use of data via integrated health IT
McVey, Lynn Alvarado, Natasha Greenhalgh, J. Elshehaly, Mai Gale, C.P. Lake, J. Ruddle, R.A. Dowding, D. Mamas, M. Feltbower, R.
McVey, Lynn
Alvarado, Natasha
Greenhalgh, J.
Elshehaly, Mai
Gale, C.P.
Lake, J.
Ruddle, R.A.
Dowding, D.
Mamas, M.
Feltbower, R.
Publication Date
2021-07-16
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
(c) 2021 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
openAccess
openAccess
openAccess
Accepted for publication
2019-06-01
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Additional title
Abstract
Secondary use of data via integrated health information technology is fundamental to many healthcare policies and processes worldwide. However, repurposing data can be problematic and little research has been undertaken into the everyday practicalities of inter-system data sharing that helps explain why this is so, especially within (as opposed to between) organisations. In response, this article reports one of the most detailed empirical examinations undertaken to date of the work involved in repurposing healthcare data for National Clinical Audits.
Methods: Fifty-four semi-structured, qualitative interviews were carried out with staff in five English National Health Service hospitals about their audit work, including 20 staff involved substantively with audit data collection. In addition, ethnographic observations took place on wards, in ‘back offices’ and meetings (102 hours). Findings were analysed thematically and synthesised in narratives.
Results: Although data were available within hospital applications for secondary use in some audit fields, which could, in theory, have been auto-populated, in practice staff regularly negotiated multiple, unintegrated systems to generate audit records. This work was complex and skilful, and involved cross-checking and double data entry, often using paper forms, to assure data quality and inform quality improvements.
Conclusions: If technology is to facilitate the secondary use of healthcare data, the skilled but largely hidden labour of those who collect and recontextualise those data must be recognised. Their detailed understandings of what it takes to produce high quality data in specific contexts should inform the further development of integrated systems within organisations.
Version
Published version
Citation
McVey L, Alvarado N, Greenhalgh J et al (2021) Hidden labour: The skilful work of clinical audit data collection and its implications for secondary use of data via integrated health IT. BMC Health Services Research. 702: 1-11.
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Article