Introduction:Data quality is an important issue in emergency medicine. The unique characteristics of emergency care services, such as high turn-over and the speed of work may increase the possibility of making errors in the related settings. Therefore, regular data quality assessment is necessary to avoid the consequences of low quality data. This study aimed to identify the main dimensions of data quality which had been assessed, the assessment approaches, and generally, the status of data quality in the emergency medical services.Methods:The review was conducted in 2016. Related articles were identified by searching databases, including Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed and Web of Science. All of the review and research papers related to data quality assessment in the emergency care services and published between 2000 and 2015 (n=34) were included in the study.Results:The findings showed that the five dimensions of data quality; namely, data completeness, accuracy, consistency, accessibility, and timeliness had been investigated in the field of emergency medical services. Regarding the assessment methods, quantitative research methods were used more than the qualitative or the mixed methods. Overall, the results of these studies showed that data completeness and data accuracy requires more attention to be improved.Conclusion:In the future studies, choosing a clear and a consistent definition of data quality is required. Moreover, the use of qualitative research methods or the mixed methods is suggested, as data users’ perspectives can provide a broader picture of the reasons for poor quality data.
Abstract
Background Many elderly people suffer from chronic health conditions and mobility limitations. Therefore, they may benefit from traditional rehabilitation or telerehabilitation interventions as an alternative for this type of services.
Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions with traditional rehabilitation services for therapeutic purposes in the elderly.
Methods This systematic review was conducted in 2018. The searched databases were Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and ProQuest. The search was conducted with no time or language limitation. The selected papers included the randomized clinical trial studies in which elderly people aged 60 and over used telerehabilitation services for treatment purposes. The quality of the studies was evaluated by using the physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro) scale. Data were extracted by using a data extraction form and findings were narratively synthesized.
Results After screening the retrieved papers, eight articles were selected to be included in the study. According to the findings, telerehabilitation was used for the elderly after stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), total knee replacement, and in patients with the comorbidity of COPD and chronic heart failure. Overall, in most studies, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups and the level of improvements was similar for most outcomes.
Conclusion Telerehabilitation services can be regarded as an alternative to traditional rehabilitation approaches to reduce outpatient resource utilization and improve quality of life. However, more rigorous studies are suggested to investigate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation services for specific diseases or health conditions.
Patients or their carers could use the web-based application as a log book by entering the level of blood glucose and insulin doses on a regular basis, and as an educational resource to improve self-management skills. Physicians could use the system at any time convenient to them to support patients by giving medical advice. Further research is needed to report the effectiveness of the system in practice.
To design a system, the accessibility and confidentiality of information should be addressed in parallel. A balance between these two is needed, as the failure of each of these may negatively influence the use of the system.
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