Registry

Type of Study

Data are collected on an annual basis.

Data gathering method

Registries

Conditions of access

Data linkage is allowed provided that the researcher has received permission from the authorities. Generally, user requests for individual level datasets are subject to tight review procedures before permission is granted and data retrieval often involve some costs.

Register data

SAS

Data collected on an annual basis.

The Hospital Benchmarking Database contain key inpatient and outpatient data abstractions from the operative systems in hospitals (length of stay, in which ward etc.), patient (age, gender etc.) and medical data (main and additional diagnoses, selected treatments). Hospital, hospital specialty unit and regional level data are available for various indicators for activity/utilization: DRGs, bed-days, discharges,outpatient visits. The Hospital benchmarking database also contains total operating costs at hospital and hospital specialty level.

www.thl.fi/.../benchmarking

Individual level data can be linked using the unique and national personal identification code. However, linkage requires substantial justification on behalf of researchers due to data protection protocols.

The data quality has been considered good or satisfactory.

The data quality has been considered good or satisfactory.

The data quality has been considered good or satisfactory.

Each data item refers to one hospital stay or visit. Whether one patient is hospitalised n times per quarter or whether n patients are hospitalised once can be easily distinguished. Linkage possibilities to other national registers using the unique personal identification is a major strength. However, the data contents in the minimum data set are fairly limited, clinical parameters, health behaviour data and other crucial risk adjustments/outcomes measures (e.g. QoL data) are missing.