Adult Patient Database (APD)

The Adult Patient Database (APD) contains data from over 2 million patient episodes and is one of the largest single datasets on intensive care in the world. The database collects episodes from over 90% of intensive care units across Australia and New Zealand on a quarterly basis. This data is used to benchmark the performance of individual contributing units. Analysis of data is reported back to contributing ICUs via the CORE Portal, an on-line reporting tool.

Data Submissions

Data submissions to the APD are made via the CORE Portal on a quarterly basis and are based on the date of ICU admission. Each data submission will produce a validation report which is sent back to the unit. All data queries listed in the validation report need to be corrected or confirmed and then the edited data resubmitted through the portal. For instructions on submitting and reporting data via the CORE Portal, please refer to the APD CORE Portal Data Submission Instructions and the APD CORE Portal Reporting Instructions.

APD Data Submission Schedule

Note: Files will be rejected for the following reasons;

• Contain more than 12 months of data (please submit multiple files if you need to submit more than 12 months of data)
• Duplicate or overlapping ICU admissions
• Missing fields
• Incorrect formatting
• For APD >20% admissions missing critical SMR field

Please refer to the 2025 ANZICS Data Submission Fact Sheet

Minimum Data Set Requirements

To maintain the integrity of the APD, CORE has introduced minimum data set requirements for all quarterly data submissions.  For a list of the minimum data set requirements and excel format for each quarter, please refer to the APD Minimum Dataset and APD Data Submission Format (excel).

Additional Tools and Resources

• • APD Data Dictionary
  • APD Programmer’s Data Dictionary
  • APD Data Collection Form (word)
  • APD Data Collection Form (pdf)
  • COMET Data Collection Tool
  • COMET Frequently Asked Questions
  • COMET Manual
  • CORE Portal
  • COMET Reporting Instructions and Templates
  • COMET Training Videos
  • CICM ICU Guidelines
  • Registry Patient Information Poster