Civil Identification as a Unique Patient Identifier for Hospitals in Kuwait

Alsaleh, Kamel A.; Alsharifi, Faisal; Al-Khalaf, Bader; Elewa, Samy

doi:10.21608/jhiph.2007.22535

Civil Identification as a Unique Patient Identifier for Hospitals in Kuwait

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Medical Records, College of Health Sciences, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, State of Kuwait

² Department of Environmental Health, College of Health Sciences, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, State of Kuwait

³ Department of Basic Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Applied Medical sciences, State of Kuwait

10.21608/jhiph.2007.22535

Abstract

Background: A unified patient identifier is an essential item in improving the quality of health care delivery. This is the trend and major progress has been achieved in many developed and developing countries. In Kuwait each hospital had its own identifier and linking the patient data is rather difficult. The Public Authority for Civil Identification (PACI) Civil Identification number (CID) is the most promising candidate and all the hospitals have been instructed and persuaded to include the CID in the discharge forms, this was stressed since 1995. Objective: The aim of the study is to find out the availability of the PACI ICD on the hospital discharge forms. Methods: The data-bases storing hospital discharge data for the government hospitals were reviewed for the presence of CID number during the period 1996-2005. A retrospective approach using the discharge summary data-base of the Statistical and Medical Record Department, MOH, Kuwait was used. Results: The rate of inclusion of the CID was very small in 1996 (13.6%.) increased in 1997 to 30.2% and, remained approximately at that level until 2002. Since 2003 the rates increased substantially and amounted in 2005 to 68.1%. Marked variability was seen between the hospitals, Sabah and Ibn Sina were the least reporting, being around 7%, Mobarak and the Chest Hospital scored above 66%. Getting a unified patient identifier is not a goal by itself; it is a step on the road to improve the health services. A major advantage, which was not addressed in this survey, is the inclusion of the CID in the Death certificate. This will provide the potential of linking the 2 data bases at a later stage. Conclusions: PACI CID includes the basic information that can make it an appropriate deterministic identifier. The response of the hospitals is favorable and the system should be field tested.

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