The Accuracy of Student-Reported Patient Encounter Data

Abstract

 

Patient encounter logging systems allow programs to ensure that students are exposed to a broad variety of cases, to provide feedback to preceptors, and to document accreditation objectives. Use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) has increased the volume of clinical encounters logged, but the accuracy and usefulness of these data are not known. Patient logging records were examined for a convenience sample of four students assigned to a regional medical center emergency department, and compared to the medical records maintained by the ED. The medical record was considered to be the standard, and student records were defined as either “hits” or “misses” relative to the ED medical record. Student patient encounter logs were found to be not very accurate relative to the medical records. Overall, the percentage of “misses” was more than 50% for diagnosis, age, and gender, and for more than 80% of clinical sessions the number of cases reported was more or less than the actual number in the medical records. As PDAs become more commonplace in collecting patient encounter data, further studies will be needed to determine the accuracy of such data.