The Garden of Edits

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The Garden of Edits

• Alan R. Houser, MA, MPH
• Research Scientist II
• C/NET Solutions
• NCRA Educational Conference
• May 8, 2006

2
Importance of Data Quality

• Cancer registry data is used to
• Determine disease origins
• Look for demographic or geographic patterns
• Determine course of treatment
• Evaluate new treatment regimes
• In all cases, good data gives good insights

3
History of Edits

• Pre-computer era
• Paper abstracts
• Visual editing
• Manual files
• Manual reports

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History of Edits

• Early computer era
• Mainframes, Mini-computers
• Key entry from paper abstracts
• Data storage limitations
• Batch edits - custom programs written
• Reports easier

5
History of Edits

• Modern computer era
• Desktop computers
• Interactive edits
• Still custom programmed

6
History of Edits

• Concept of portable edits developed in
  mid-1980s
• Allows for standardization of edits
• Platform-independent
• Same edits can be applied at all levels

7
EDITS Used at ALL LEVELSof Cancer Reporting
Standard Setters (SS)
COC

• Run edits on CCR and Reporting hospital
  submissions to
• Enforce national data standards
• Assess data quality and completeness
• Provide feedback to CCRs and Reporting
  Hospitals

NPCR, SEER, NAACCR
Vendors
Central Cancer Registries (CCR)

• Incorporate edits in Reporting Facility and CCR
  cancer abstraction and reporting software
  (interactive data validation batch mode)
• Support CCR and Facility-specific edit needs

• Run Call For Data edits prior to submission to
  SS
• Run edits on incoming data submissions to
  assess for accuracy and completeness, and to
  identify training needs

Reporting Facilities

• Use edits for
• Evaluation of data quality prior to submission
  to
• CCR or SS
• Correcting edit errors on report from CCR
• Abstracting (interactive data validation w/in
  software)

Slide courtesy of Susan Capron
COC-Approved
8
CDC Edits Support

• EditWriter
• developed to create data dictionary, record
  layouts, edits, and edit sets and integrate edits
  with lookup tables produces compiled Runtime
  MetaFile (RMF)

9
CDC Edits Support

• EditWriter
• developed to create data dictionary, record
  layouts, edits, and edit sets and integrate edits
  with lookup tables produces compiled Runtime
  MetaFile (RMF)
• Edit Engine
• developed to apply edits within a MetaFile to a
  data stream

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CDC Edits Support

• EditWriter
• developed to create data dictionary, record
  layouts, edits, and edit sets and integrate edits
  with lookup tables produces compiled Runtime
  MetaFile (RMF)
• Edit Engine
• developed to apply edits within a MetaFile to a
  data stream
• Released to Cancer Registry Community in the
  mid-1990s

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CDC Edits Support

• GenEdits
• DOS program for batch processing of submission
  files
• GenEdits Lite
• Windows program for batch processing of
  submission files

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Sources of Edits

• National Standards Agencies
• SEER Program (National Cancer Institute)
• NCDB (Commission on Cancer)
• NPCR (CDC)
• NAACCR

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Sources of Edits

• National Standards Agencies
• SEER Program (National Cancer Institute)
• NCDB (Commission on Cancer)
• NPCR (CDC)
• NAACCR
• State Registries

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Sources of Edits

• National Standards Agencies
• SEER Program (National Cancer Institute)
• NCDB (Commission on Cancer)
• NPCR (CDC)
• NAACCR
• State Registries
• Cancer Committees

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Sources of Edits

• National Standards Agencies
• SEER Program (National Cancer Institute)
• NCDB (Commission on Cancer)
• NPCR (CDC)
• NAACCR
• State Registries
• Cancer Committees
• Vendors

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen
• Soil Data Standards

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen
• Soil Data Standards
• Weeds Bad Data

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen
• Soil Data Standards
• Weeds Bad Data
• Gardener Registrar

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen
• Soil Data Standards
• Weeds Bad Data
• Gardener Registrar
• Tools Edits

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What is this Garden?

• Good data doesnt just happen
• Soil Data Standards
• Weeds Bad Data
• Gardener Registrar
• Tools Edits
• Flowers Clean Data

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How an Edit is Created

• Look at sources

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How an Edit is Created

• Find an interaction between two or more fields

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How an Edit is Created

• Establish logical relationships
• If Surg Prim Site is 00 or 98, Date Most
  Definitive Surgery must be 00000000
• If Surg Prim Site is 99, Date Most Definitive
  Surgery must be 99999999

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How an Edit is Created

• Write the edit logic

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How an Edit is Created

• Write the edit logic
• Write the edit help (more later)

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How an Edit is Created

• Write the edit logic
• Write the edit help (more later)
• Write the edit error message

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Application of Edits

• Batch Processing on Transmit Files
• GenEdits
• GenEdits Lite
• Interactive Processing in Database
• Abstract Plus
• CNExT

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The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values

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The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values
• Relies on message to describe interactions
  between data fields that may trigger edit

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The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values
• Relies on message to describe interactions
  between data fields that may trigger edit
• Lists edit name, including owner of edit
  (Standard Setter)

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The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)

35
The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values

36
The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values
• Relies on message to describe interactions
  between data fields that may trigger edit

37
The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values
• Relies on message to describe interactions
  between data fields that may trigger edit
• Lists edit name, including owner of edit
  (Standard Setter)

38
The Error Message

• Multi-line edit messages (e.g., GenEdits)
• Not constrained by line length, so all data
  fields examined in the edit are listed with
  current values
• Relies on message to describe interactions
  between data fields that may trigger edit
• Lists edit name, including owner of edit
  (Standard Setter)
• Report can get quite large quickly

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)
• Not all fields in edit may be listed

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)
• Not all fields in edit may be listed
• Values of fields in edit may not be listed

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)
• Not all fields in edit may be listed
• Values of fields in edit may not be listed
• Message may offer clues to resolution

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The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)
• Not all fields in edit may be listed
• Values of fields in edit may not be listed
• Message may offer clues to resolution
• Doesnt include owner of edit

45
The Error Message

• Single-line edit messages
• More compact (shorter printouts)
• Not all fields in edit may be listed
• Values of fields in edit may not be listed
• Message may offer clues to resolution
• Doesnt include owner of edit
• Requires better help system

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Edit Help

• Not readily accessible
• Some third party solutions
• What information can be gleaned from the error
  message?
• Conflict between A and B
• What are the values of A and B?
• Why do they conflict?

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Edit Help

• Not readily accessible
• Some third party solutions

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Edit Help

• Edit message listings

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Edit Help

• NCDB Edits Help

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Edit Help

• NCDB Edits Help (interactive)

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Edit Help

• Abstract Plus

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Edit Help

• CNExT SmartHelp

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Resolving Edit Errors

• General Steps
• Review error message/edit help
• Note fields to be reviewed
• Review codes
• Verify codes by reviewing text
• Resolve error
• Slide adapted from
• Kathleen Thoburn

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The Error Message

• Hybrid solutions
• Combine edit error with resolution tools

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The Error Message

• Hybrid solutions Abstract Plus
• Jump to field from list

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The Error Message

• Hybrid solutions CNExT
• Build edit resolution screen dynamically

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The Data Cleaning CycleUsing Edits

• Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until clean!
• 1. Run Edits 2. Clean Errors

Slide courtesy of Susan Capron
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Checking the Standards

• Whose edit is it?
• Different Standard Setters may have different
  rules for a particular situation
• Knowing whose rules applies tells you whose
  manual to reach for first
• BUT, many edits have been adopted by multiple
  Standard Setters when they agree on how the edit
  should be applied

59
New Tools on the Horizon

• GenEdits Plus
• Edit Help