An integrated team approach has been implemented to improve the quality of childhood oral epidemiological data in Wales. This poster provides an update of a previous presentation3.

1
An integrated team approach to improve dental
data quality
Morgan MZ1 Monaghan NP2

• Introduction
• An integrated team approach has been implemented
  to improve the quality of childhood oral
  epidemiological data in Wales. This poster
  provides an update of a previous presentation3.
• Method
• The team consists of the all Wales dental
  epidemiology co-ordinator (NM), the Welsh Oral
  Health Information Unit (MM) and five local
  epidemiology co-ordinators. The team has worked
  to close the audit loop relating to data quality.
  Collaborative work associated with data
  collection and analysis have informed changes to
• the survey protocol,
• the training and calibration exercise,
• data collection format and process,
• data verification,
• and data cleaning processes.
• Emphasis has been placed upon improving the
  quality of the data at the time of collection.
• Annual training includes feedback to data
  recorders, it emphasises the importance of
  thoroughness and accuracy with regards to data
  collection. Feedback consists of identifying poor
  practice and how each district compares in terms
  of data quality.

Results As an example of data quality, postcode
recognition rates using the in house postcode
look-up file were in excess of 95 for all data
collection areas (i.e. health authorities pre
April 2003) for the survey of 14 year olds in
2002/03. Ranging from a 1.4 improvement in area
4 to 21.9 in area 3 when compared with a
previous survey undertaken in 1998/99 (Figure 1).
Combined efforts of staff collecting data,
local organisers and the Welsh Oral Health
Information Unit produce high postcode
recognition (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Changes in postcode recognition after
centralised data cleaning, survey of 14 year old
children 2002/2003
Data checks have revealed several types of common
errors associated with postcode. These are
presented in Table 1. These will be shared with
data collection staff and local organisers in
future training exercises to alert them to
potential errors and to develop methods to manage
them.
Figure 1 Changes in postcode recognition rates,
for three oral epidemiological surveys
Table 1 Common Postcode Errors
Conclusions This poster highlights data quality
associated with postcode which is just one of the
data items in the dental survey programme whose
quality is managed. The authors believe that
these postcodes are among the cleanest variables
in NHS data in the United Kingdom. The quality of
the data has been delivered through an integrated
team approach regarding quality assurance.
Acknowledgements The support of the National
Assembly for Wales is acknowledged gratefully in
the funding of the Welsh Oral Health Information
Unit and of the Dental Epidemiology and Training
Exercises. Data of this quality could not be
delivered without the efforts of the data
collection staff and of local organisers.
1 Welsh Oral Health Information Unit, Dental
School, University of Wales College of Medicine
2 National Public Health Service Wales 3
Monaghan, N. P., Morgan, M.Z. Improving the
Quality of Dental Data. Poster Presentation.
Faculty of Public Health Medicine Annual
Scientific Meeting, 25-28 June 2002