Abstract
Computerized medical personal registers are created for administrative purposes but are frequently used in research. It can be shown that this divergence of aims deeply affects the validity of the diagnosis in register research. The diagnostic process is embedded within the process of creating the data base. This process is guided by the aims for making diagnosis.
Five different aims for making diagnosis in clinical practice have been analysed and eight suggestions for validity control are proposed on the basis of the study.
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Elffors, L. On assessing the validity of the main diagnosis in patient data bases: The impact of aims for making diagnosis. Theor Med Bioeth 9, 141–150 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489408
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489408