Citation

BibTex format

@article{Lugg-Widger:2023:10.23889/ijpds.v8i1.2072,
author = {Lugg-Widger, FV and Barlow, C and Cannings-John, R and Gale, C and Houlding, N and Milton, R and Plachcinski, R and Sanders, J},
doi = {10.23889/ijpds.v8i1.2072},
journal = {International Journal of Population Data Science},
title = {The practicalities of adapting UK maternity clinical information systems for observational research: experiences of the POOL study},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v8i1.2072},
volume = {8},
year = {2023}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - BackgroundUsing routinely collected clinical data for observational research is an increasingly important method for data collection, especially when rare outcomes are being explored. The POOL study was commissioned to evaluate the safety of waterbirth in the UK using routine maternity and neonatal clinical data. This paper describes the design, rationale, set-up and pilot for this data linkage study using bespoke methods.MethodsClinical maternity information systems hold many data items of value for research purposes, but often lack specific data items required for individual studies. This study used the novel method of amending an existing clinical maternity database for the purpose of collecting additional research data fields. In combination with the extraction of existing data fields, this maximised the potential use of existing routinely collected clinical data for research purposes, whilst reducing NHS staff data collection burden.Wellbeing Software® provider of the Euroking® Maternity Information System, added new study specific data fields to their information system, extracted data from participating NHS sites and transferred data for matching with the National Neonatal Research Database to ascertain outcomes for babies admitted to neonatal units. Study set-up processes were put in place for all sites. The data extraction, linkage and cleaning processes were piloted with one pre-selected NHS site.ResultsTwenty-six NHS sites were set-up over 27 months (January 2019 - April 2021). Twenty-four thousand maternity records were extracted from the one NHS site, pertaining to the period January 2015 to March 2019. Data field completeness for maternal and neonatal primary outcomes were mostly acceptable. Neonatal identifiers flowed to the National Neonatal Research Database for successful matching and linkage between maternity and neonatal unit records.DiscussionPiloting the data extraction and linkage highlighted the need for additional governance arrangem
AU - Lugg-Widger,FV
AU - Barlow,C
AU - Cannings-John,R
AU - Gale,C
AU - Houlding,N
AU - Milton,R
AU - Plachcinski,R
AU - Sanders,J
DO - 10.23889/ijpds.v8i1.2072
PY - 2023///
SN - 2399-4908
TI - The practicalities of adapting UK maternity clinical information systems for observational research: experiences of the POOL study
T2 - International Journal of Population Data Science
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v8i1.2072
UR - https://ijpds.org/article/view/2072
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/104583
VL - 8
ER -