Validating peritonsillar abscess drainage rates using the Pediatric hospital information system data.

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Pediatric Surgery
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Peritonsillar abscesses are common in children.
• Accurate data on surgical drainage rates is crucial for quality improvement.
• The Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) is a valuable data source, but its accuracy for specific procedures needs validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the accuracy of the Children's Hospital Association's PHIS registry data.
• To compare PHIS-derived surgical drainage rates against manual chart review for pediatric peritonsillar abscesses.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 200 children (ages 2-17) treated for peritonsillar abscess from 2011-2016.
• Comparison of surgical drainage rates between PHIS database and chart review.
• Calculation of sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, ROC, and likelihood ratios.

Main Results:

• Chart review identified 115 (58%) drainage procedures; PHIS data indicated 87 (44%).
• PHIS data demonstrated 76% sensitivity and 100% specificity for identifying drainage.
• Positive predictive value was 100%, negative predictive value was 75%; ROC area was 0.88.

Conclusions:

• PHIS administrative data is adequate for predicting surgical drainage of peritonsillar abscesses in children.
• The PHIS registry can be reliably used for quality assessment of peritonsillar abscess management.
• Discrepancies were mainly due to unrecorded procedures in PHIS data.