Developing a national minimum data set for hospital information systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Standardized data collection supports disease information management and leads to better quality of care. The Islamic Republic of Iran lacks a standard data set for data collection in hospitals.

The aim of this study was to design a minimum data set for hospital information systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This study was conducted in 2015. Data sets of other countries, hospital records, hospital information systems and electronic health record systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran were reviewed for data elements for the minimum data set. Data elements were collected using a data extraction form and were categorized into similar classes, which were divided into administrative and clinical sections. The list of data elements was reviewed by experts in technical offices of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and a minimum data set was drawn up.

There were nine and 18 data classes in the administrative and clinical sections with a total of 166 and 684 data elements respectively. After review by the expert panel, 159 administrative and 621 clinical data elements were retained as the minimum data set for the Iranian hospital information system.

Our dataset can be used by the Iranian health ministry, hospital information system companies and health surveillance centres for more efficient management of health data.