The Challenges of Data Quality Evaluation in a Joint Data Warehouse.

Introduction: The use of clinically derived data from electronic health records (EHRs) and other electronic clinical systems can greatly facilitate clinical research as well as operational and quality initiatives. One approach for making these data available is to incorporate data from different sources into a joint data warehouse. When using such a data warehouse, it is important to understand the quality of the data.

The Knowledge Program: an innovative, comprehensive electronic data capture system and warehouse.

Data contained in the electronic health record (EHR) present a tremendous opportunity to improve quality-of-care and enhance research capabilities. However, the EHR is not structured to provide data for such purposes: most clinical information is entered as free text and content varies substantially between providers. Discrete information on patients' functional status is typically not collected.