Impact of developing a multidisciplinary coded dataset standard on administrative data accuracy for septoplasty, septorhinoplasty and nasal trauma surgery.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a multidisciplinary coded dataset standard for nasal surgery and to assess its impact on data accuracy.

METHOD: An audit of 528 patients undergoing septal and/or inferior turbinate surgery, rhinoplasty and/or septorhinoplasty, and nasal fracture surgery was undertaken.

RESULTS: A total of 200 septoplasties, 109 septorhinoplasties, 57 complex septorhinoplasties and 116 nasal fractures were analysed. There were 76 (14.4 per cent) changes to the primary diagnosis. Septorhinoplasties were the most commonly amended procedures. The overall audit-related income change for nasal surgery was £8.78 per patient. Use of a multidisciplinary coded dataset standard revealed that nasal diagnoses were under-coded; a significant proportion of patients received more precise diagnoses following the audit. There was also significant under-coding of both morbidities and revision surgery.

CONCLUSION: The multidisciplinary coded dataset standard approach can improve the accuracy of both data capture and information flow, and, thus, ultimately create a more reliable dataset for use outcomes and health planning.