Validation of undergraduate clinical data by electronic capture (barcode)

Assessment of clinical activity is common in dental schools. An audit project to confirm that dental undergraduate clinical activity recorded by electronic data capture is an accurate representation of the clinical case entry is reported. A printout of clinical activity for a period of a week was generated retrospectively and used to identify case notes. Activity recorded in the case notes was compared with the computer printout. All discrepancies were noted. A total of 125 patient files with 270 barcoded items of treatment were retrieved; 29 of 78 (37.1%) paediatric and 23 of 47 (48.9%) orthodontic cases had discrepancies between the case notes and the computer entry. However, some items recorded in the notes do not require barcoding and vice versa. When these were accounted for, only 19 items of treatment appeared in the notes that should have been barcoded, a 7% shortfall in recording of clinical activity. The barcode system is an accurate and reliable way of recording undergraduate clinical activity.