The quality of indigenous identification and other demographic data in Australian hospital morbidity records

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

The accurate recording of patients' Indegenous status in hospital separations data is critical to analyses of health service use by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, who have relatively poor health. However, the accuracy of these data is now well understood. In 1998, a methodology for assessing the data accuracy was piloted in 11 public hospitals. Data were collected for 8,267 patients using a personal interview, and compared with the corresponding, routinely collected data. Among the 11 hospitals, the proportion of patients correctly recorded as Indigenous ranged from 55 % to 100 %. Overall, hospitals with high proportions of Indigenous persons in their catchment areas reported more accurate data. The methodology has since been used to assess data quality in hospitals in two Australian states and to promote best practice data collection.