Spinach and Data Integrity

In 1929 the United States was introduced to a new hero—Popeye. Popeye made a significant impact on the economy as he began to consume spinach as a source for his strength. The result was an important increase in the consumption of spinach which some people connect to saving the spinach industry.

Why spinach as the source of super hero strength? This leafy green vegetable was chosen because of high iron levels. In 1870, Dr. E von Wolf published a work that claimed spinach had 10 times more iron than cabbage and therefore the perfect vegetable to provide “iron man” strength. Children everywhere were forced to eat spinach so they would grow up “big and strong” like Popeye. Unfortunately, there was a data integrity issue and a decimal point was to be found off by one position and some German scientist in 1937 discovered that spinach has 1/10 the level of iron previously claimed. Popeye has slowly disappeared and millions of children are saved from eating spinach.

The spinach myth and birth of Popeye is a great example of how much data quality can impact findings and analysis – a simple decimal was off by one point. Even today you will find people who remember Popeye and the simple rule that spinach will make you stronger.

In healthcare today, we are working with all types of data for payment, data measurement, coding diagnosis, procedures, data groupers and registries. An error in one field could make a difference in how a hospital’s performance is reported to the public.

There is no limit to the consequences of careless data input. It can have a deep effect when steps aren’t taken to verify and double-check information that could end up in a public database or cyberspace. We consider the analytic tools that the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation provides to our hospital collaborative as another way to validate data before it is released in the public. Simply put, take time to investigate your data or we could all be consuming spinach with Popeye the Sailor Man.