Ensuring quality in the coding process: A key differentiator for the accurate interpretation of safety data

• Main Author: G Jaya Nair
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2013-01-01
• Series: Perspectives in Clinical Research
• Subjects: Clinical trials; dictionaries; dictionary hierarchies; MedDRA; medical coding; quality; safety signals; World Health Organization Drug
• Online Access: http://www.picronline.org/article.asp?issn=2229-3485;year=2013;volume=4;issue=3;spage=181;epage=185;aulast=Nair

Medical coding and dictionaries for clinical trials have seen a wave of change over the past decade where emphasis on more standardized tools for coding and reporting clinical data has taken precedence. Coding personifies the backbone of clinical reporting as safety data reports primarily depend on the coded data. Hence, maintaining an optimum quality of coding is quintessential to the accurate analysis and interpretation of critical clinical data. The perception that medical coding is merely a process of assigning numeric/alphanumeric codes to clinical data needs to be revisited. The significance of quality coding and its impact on clinical reporting has been highlighted in this article.