There are 3
types of quality indicators that we can provide to researchers
in addition to the data. Firstly the information from the
feedback reports that THIN send to participating doctors is
available to researchers. Secondly we have expanded the
information in the practice file and information in now
available on the data quality of each practice. Thirdly we
provide all researchers with a research file, areport
for researchers which provides a summary of the extent to
which certain common data items are recorded.
The Research
File is a report for researchers, providing a summary of
the extent to which certain common data items are
recorded. These are essentially ‘counts’ of events
recorded and provide a baseline figure of the number of
patients eligible for having those events recorded. The
research file does not contain any interpretation of the
data. It acts as a method for determining which practices
could be included in a study.
The research file includes the years 1985 to 2007. For
each practice it contains counts resulting from the
assessment programs on the total active patient list,
various age sex bands, death with cause, smoking, blood
pressure and heights and weights. The report is run for
each updated dataset and annually for each complete
calendar year.
Researchers can select which practices to use based on the
needs of individual studies. For example, a researcher
studying smoking and links to respiratory tract infections
may choose only those practices with a smoking record in
at least 75% of their adult population.
