A Near-Miss in Clinical Outcomes Research Data Collection.

Abstract

We present the case of a near-miss in clinical research to illustrate a situation in which errors in data collection would have led to different results in the data analysis, with the potential for drawing incorrect conclusions. Conclusions based on data errors may adversely influence future medical decision-making in patient care. In the interest of presenting this as an educational, nonpunitive, quality-improvement report, the study and the involved researchers remain anonymous, and the specific details and exact number of patients are not reported.