The role of medical data in efficient patient care delivery: a review
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paper_title: Emergency Physicians' Experience with Advance Care Planning Documentation in the Electronic Medical Record: Useful, Needed, and Elusive

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OBJECTIVE ::: For patients' preferences to be honored, emergency department (ED) physicians must be able to find and use advance care planning (ACP) information in the electronic medical record (EMR). ED physicians' experiences with ACP EMR documentation and their documentation needs are unknown. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We surveyed 70 ED physicians (81% response rate) from a tertiary and county ED. Our primary outcome was confidence finding and using ACP EMR documentation (percentage reporting very/extremely on a five-point Likert scale). Secondary outcomes included frequency of use and perceived usefulness of types of ACP documentation. Suggestions for improvement were analyzed using thematic content analysis. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Participants' mean age was 36 years (± 9) and 54% were women. Thirty-one percent reported being very/extremely confident they could find ACP EMR documentation, and 55% felt very/extremely confident they could use it to care for patients. Yet 74% needed it ≥1 time/week and 43% ≥5 times/week. Participants reported code status orders (90%), Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) (86%), and durable power of attorney for health care (78%) as very/extremely useful, followed by values statements (31%), oral directives (34%), and living wills (37%). ED physicians wanted highly visible ACP information, "on the main screen." ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: EMR systems are not optimized to provide critical ACP information to ED physicians who lack confidence finding or using ACP EMR documentation to care for patients. Dedicated ACP information on the EMR home screen and tailored training may be needed to help ED providers find, use, and discuss ACP documentation to provide care aligned with patients' goals.
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paper_title: Toward electronic health recording: evaluation of electronic patient reported outcome measures (e-PROMs) system for remote monitoring of early systemic lupus patients

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The study aimed to assess the value of evaluation of electronic patient reported outcome measures (e-PROMs) in the assessment and management of SLE disease activity flares, its association with adherence to therapy as well as organ damage. A randomized, controlled crossover study was carried out over a 24-month duration. One hundred forty-seven SLE patients meeting the revised American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria were enrolled. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was used to assess disease activity, whereas organ damage was scored using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)/ACR Damage Index. In the first 12 months, the patients were assessed every 3 months. At 12 months, the patients were randomized into a cohort of 73 patients who continued their care in the same style and 74 patients who completed an online e-PROMs questionnaire on monthly basis for another 12-month period. The data captured were then retrospectively analyzed at the end of the 24-month study period. At the end of the first year of the study, the mean SLEDAI and SDI scores were 8.72 (6.1) and 1.9 (2.2). At the end of the second year, the mean SLEDAI and SDI scores in the e-PROMs cohort were 3.1 (2.6) and 1.2 (1.3), whereas in the control group, the scores were 7.63 (6.7) and 1.8 (2.3), respectively (p < 0.01). Adjusting for possible confounding variables, the number of flares, regardless of their severity, was associated with damage accrual (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.34 to 2.83, p < 0.001). Adherence to therapy was significantly (p < 0.1) higher in the e-PROMs group. e-PROMs was equivalent to PROMs paper format and has a potential disease-modifying effect as it facilitated close monitoring of disease activity with an option of management escalation whenever indicated.
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paper_title: Development and validation of method for defining conditions using Chinese electronic medical record

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Background ::: The adoption of the electronic medical record (EMR) is rapidly growing in China. Constantly evolving, Chinese EMRs contain vast amounts of clinical and financial data, providing tremendous potential for research and policy use; however, they are only partially standardized and contain free text or unstructured data. To utilize the information contained in Chinese EMRs, the development of data extraction methodology is urgently needed. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate methods to extract clinical information from the Chinese EMR for research use.
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paper_title: Extracting Physician Group Intelligence from Electronic Health Records to Support Evidence Based Medicine

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Evidence-based medicine employs expert opinion and clinical data to inform clinical decision making. The objective of this study is to determine whether it is possible to complement these sources of evidence with information about physician “group intelligence” that exists in electronic health records. Specifically, we measured laboratory test “repeat intervals”, defined as the amount of time it takes for a physician to repeat a test that was previously ordered for the same patient. Our assumption is that while the result of a test is a direct measure of one marker of a patient's health, the physician's decision to order the test is based on multiple factors including past experience, available treatment options, and information about the patient that might not be coded in the electronic health record. By examining repeat intervals in aggregate over large numbers of patients, we show that it is possible to 1) determine what laboratory test results physicians consider “normal”, 2) identify subpopulations of patients that deviate from the norm, and 3) identify situations where laboratory tests are over-ordered. We used laboratory tests as just one example of how physician group intelligence can be used to support evidence based medicine in a way that is automated and continually updated.
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paper_title: Using the electronic health record to build a culture of practice safety: evaluating the implementation of trigger tools in one general practice

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Background Identifying patients at risk of harm in general practice is challenging for busy clinicians. In UK primary care, trigger tools and case note reviews are mainly used to identify rates of harm in sample populations. Aim This study explores how adaptions to existing trigger tool methodology can identify patient safety events and engage clinicians in ongoing reflective work around safety. Design and setting Mixed-method quantitative and narrative evaluation using thematic analysis in a single East London training practice. Method The project team developed and tested five trigger searches, supported by Excel worksheets to guide the case review process. Project evaluation included summary statistics of completed worksheets and a qualitative review focused on ease of use, barriers to implementation, and perception of value to clinicians. Results Trigger searches identified 204 patients for GP review. Overall, 117 (57%) of cases were reviewed and 62 (53%) of these cases had patient safety events identified. These were usually incidents of omission, including failure to monitor or review. Key themes from interviews with practice members included the fact that GPs’ work is generally reactive and GPs welcomed an approach that identified patients who were ‘under the radar’ of safety. All GPs expressed concern that the tool might identify too many patients at risk of harm, placing further demands on their time. Conclusion Electronic trigger tools can identify patients for review in domains of clinical risk for primary care. The high yield of safety events engaged clinicians and provided validation of the need for routine safety checks.
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paper_title: Using Active Choice Within the Electronic Health Record to Increase Influenza Vaccination Rates

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BACKGROUND ::: Despite the benefits of influenza vaccination, each year more than half of adults in the United States do not receive it. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: To evaluate the association between an active choice intervention in the electronic health record (EHR) and changes in influenza vaccination rates. ::: ::: ::: DESIGN ::: Observational study. ::: ::: ::: PATIENTS ::: Adults eligible for influenza vaccination with a clinic visit at one of three internal medicine practices at the University of Pennsylvania Health System between September 2010 and March 2013. ::: ::: ::: INTERVENTION ::: The EHR confirmed patient eligibility during the clinic visit and, upon accessing the patient chart, prompted the physician and their medical assistant to actively choose to "accept" or "cancel" an order for the influenza vaccine. ::: ::: ::: MAIN MEASURES ::: Change in influenza vaccination order rates at the intervention practice compared to two control practices for the 2012-2013 flu season, comparing trends during the prior two flu seasons adjusting for time trends and patient and clinic visit characteristics. ::: ::: ::: KEY RESULTS ::: The sample (n = 45,926 patients) was 62.9% female, 35.9% white, and 54.4% black, with a mean age of 50.2 years. Trends were similar between practices during the 2 years in the pre-intervention period. Vaccination rates increased in both groups in the post-intervention year, but the intervention practice using active choice had a significantly greater increase than the control (adjusted difference-in-difference: 6.6 percentage points; 95% CI, 5.1-8.1; P < 0.001), representing a 37.3% relative increase compared to the pre-intervention period. More than 99.9% (9938/9941) of orders placed during the study period resulted in vaccination. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Active choice through the EHR was associated with a significant increase in influenza vaccination rates.
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paper_title: Electronic medical record phenotyping using the anchor and learn framework

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BACKGROUND ::: Electronic medical records (EMRs) hold a tremendous amount of information about patients that is relevant to determining the optimal approach to patient care. As medicine becomes increasingly precise, a patient's electronic medical record phenotype will play an important role in triggering clinical decision support systems that can deliver personalized recommendations in real time. Learning with anchors presents a method of efficiently learning statistically driven phenotypes with minimal manual intervention. ::: ::: ::: MATERIALS AND METHODS ::: We developed a phenotype library that uses both structured and unstructured data from the EMR to represent patients for real-time clinical decision support. Eight of the phenotypes were evaluated using retrospective EMR data on emergency department patients using a set of prospectively gathered gold standard labels. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: We built a phenotype library with 42 publicly available phenotype definitions. Using information from triage time, the phenotype classifiers have an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of infection 0.89, cancer 0.88, immunosuppressed 0.85, septic shock 0.93, nursing home 0.87, anticoagulated 0.83, cardiac etiology 0.89, and pneumonia 0.90. Using information available at the time of disposition from the emergency department, the AUC values are infection 0.91, cancer 0.95, immunosuppressed 0.90, septic shock 0.97, nursing home 0.91, anticoagulated 0.94, cardiac etiology 0.92, and pneumonia 0.97. ::: ::: ::: DISCUSSION ::: The resulting phenotypes are interpretable and fast to build, and perform comparably to statistically learned phenotypes developed with 5000 manually labeled patients. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: Learning with anchors is an attractive option for building a large public repository of phenotype definitions that can be used for a range of health IT applications, including real-time decision support.
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paper_title: Recent perspectives of electronic medical record systems

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Implementation of electronic medical record (EMR) systems within developing contexts as part of efforts to monitor and facilitate the attainment of health-related aims has been on the increase. However, these efforts have been concentrated on urban hospitals. Recent findings showed that development processes of EMR systems are associated with various discrepancies between protocols and work practices. These discrepancies were mainly caused by factors including high workload, lack of medical resources, misunderstanding of the protocols by health workers, and client/patient practices. The present review focused on the effects of EMRs on patient care work, and on appropriate EMR designs principles and strategies to ameliorate these systems.
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paper_title: Thoughtless design of the electronic health record drives overuse, but purposeful design can nudge improved patient care

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In his book on the psychology of persuasion, Robert Cialdini noted: “as the stimuli saturating our lives continue to grow more intricate and variable, we will have to depend increasingly on our shortcuts to handle them all”.1 Such cognitive shortcuts, or heuristics, are responsible for much of human success in complex environments. Heuristics allow us to skip steps and save mental energy. Similarly, emotions provide a shorthand for remembering and reacting to complex situations and sociability allows us to function well in groups. ::: ::: Medicine is the art of managing complexity. Physicians’ success similarly depends on effective use of these heuristics, emotion and sociability. When admitting a patient to the hospital, a physician must diagnose the presenting symptoms, reconcile and start medications, order diagnostic testing, communicate with consultants and participate in shared-decision making. In ambulatory visits, the time pressure and tasks are slightly different, but comparably complex. In both scenarios, triaging and simultaneously managing all of the complex processes require incredible mental energy, made even more difficult by frequent interruptions.2 If every decision had to be made in an ordered, fully informed manner, we would never complete even a single patient encounter. It is no wonder we lean on heuristics and emotional and social influences in our decision-making. They often serve us well. ::: ::: Despite their utility, heuristics, emotion and social influences can lead to predictably poor choices. Richard Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, largely for recognising this fact.3 Thaler also described a process, termed ‘nudging’, by which environments are re-designed to take advantage of heuristics to encourage better choices.4 Thaler’s work focuses on public policy and public health, but the same concepts of environment influencing behaviour is seen in the interaction between physician decision-making and the design of the electronic health record (EHR). ::: ::: For better or …
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paper_title: Designing a Patient-Centered User Interface for Access Decisions about EHR Data: Implications from Patient Interviews

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BACKGROUND ::: Electronic health records change the landscape of patient data sharing and privacy by increasing the amount of information collected and stored and the number of potential recipients. Patients desire granular control over who receives what information in their electronic health record (EHR), but there are no current patient interfaces that allow them to record their preferences for EHR access. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: Our aim was to derive the user needs of patients regarding the design of a user interface that records patients' individual choices about who can access data in their EHRs. ::: ::: ::: DESIGN ::: We used semi-structured interviews. ::: ::: ::: SETTING ::: The study was conducted in Central Indiana. ::: ::: ::: PARTICIPANTS ::: Thirty patients with data stored in an EHR, the majority of whom (70 %) had highly sensitive health EHR data, were included in the study. ::: ::: ::: APPROACH ::: We conducted a thematic and quantitative analysis of transcribed interview data. ::: ::: ::: KEY RESULTS ::: Patients rarely knew what data were in their EHRs, but would have liked to know. They also wanted to be able to control who could access what information in their EHR and wanted to be notified when their data we re accessed. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: We derived six implications for the design of a patient-centered tool to allow individual choice in the disclosure of EHR: easy patient access to their EHRs; an overview of current EHR sharing permissions; granular, hierarchical control over EHR access; EHR access controls based on dates; contextual privacy controls; and notification when their EHRs are accessed.
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paper_title: Identification of Dyslipidemic Patients Attending Primary Care Clinics Using Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Data from the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) Database

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The objective of this study was to define the optimal algorithm to identify patients with dyslipidemia using electronic medical records (EMRs). EMRs of patients attending primary care clinics in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada during 2009---2010, were studied to determine the best algorithm for identification of dyslipidemia. Six algorithms containing three components, dyslipidemia ICD coding, lipid lowering medication use, and abnormal laboratory lipid levels, were tested against a gold standard, defined as the existence of any of the three criteria. Linear discriminate analysis, and bootstrapping were performed following sensitivity/specificity testing and receiver's operating curve analysis. Two validating datasets, NL records of 2011---2014, and Canada-wide records of 2010---2012, were used to replicate the results. Relative to the gold standard, combining laboratory data together with lipid lowering medication consumption yielded the highest sensitivity (99.6%), NPV (98.1%), Kappa agreement (0.98), and area under the curve (AUC, 0.998). The linear discriminant analysis for this combination resulted in an error rate of 0.15 and an Eigenvalue of 1.99, and the bootstrapping led to AUC: 0.998, 95% confidence interval: 0.997---0.999, Kappa: 0.99. This algorithm in the first validating dataset yielded a sensitivity of 97%, Negative Predictive Value (NPV) = 83%, Kappa = 0.88, and AUC = 0.98. These figures for the second validating data set were 98%, 93%, 0.95, and 0.99, respectively. Combining laboratory data with lipid lowering medication consumption within the EMR is the best algorithm for detecting dyslipidemia. These results can generate standardized information systems for dyslipidemia and other chronic disease investigations using EMRs.
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paper_title: Facilitation or Hindrance: Physicians’ Perception on Best Practice Alerts (BPA) Usage in an Electronic Health Record System

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ABSTRACTA qualitative study was conducted to examine physicians’ perception on best practice alerts (BPAs) usage under the theoretical framework of technology acceptance model (TAM). In particular,...
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paper_title: Improving Diagnostic Accuracy Using EHR in Emergency Departments: A Simulation-Based Study.

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Display Omitted EHR use led to an increase in the quality of the clinical decisions.Accessing EHR raises the confidence level of physicians in their diagnosis.The decision-making process is faster and more efficient with EHR.The findings may guide policy makers in deciding to implement EHRs. It is widely believed that Electronic Health Records (EHR) improve medical decision-making by enabling medical staff to access medical information stored in the system. It remains unclear, however, whether EHR indeed fulfills this claim under the severe time constraints of Emergency Departments (EDs). We assessed whether accessing EHR in an ED actually improves decision-making by clinicians. A simulated ED environment was created at the Israel Center for Medical Simulation (MSR). Four different actors were trained to simulate four specific complaints and behavior and 'consulted' 26 volunteer ED physicians. Each physician treated half of the cases (randomly) with access to EHR, and their medical decisions were compared to those where the physicians had no access to EHR. Comparison of diagnostic accuracy with and without access showed that accessing the EHR led to an increase in the quality of the clinical decisions. Physicians accessing EHR were more highly informed and thus made more accurate decisions. The percentage of correct diagnoses was higher and these physicians were more confident in their diagnoses and made their decisions faster.
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paper_title: A comparison of a multistate inpatient EHR database to the HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample

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BackgroundThe growing availability of electronic health records (EHRs) in the US could provide researchers with a more detailed and clinically relevant alternative to using claims-based data.MethodsIn this study we compared a very large EHR database (Health Facts©) to a well-established population estimate (Nationwide Inpatient Sample). Weighted comparisons were made using t-value and relative difference over diagnoses and procedures for the year 2010.ResultsThe two databases have a similar distribution pattern across all data elements, with 24 of 50 data elements being statistically similar between the two data sources. In general, differences that were found are consistent across diagnosis and procedures categories and were specific to the psychiatric–behavioral and obstetrics–gynecology services areas.ConclusionsLarge EHR databases have the potential to be a useful addition to health services researchers, although they require different analytic techniques compared to administrative databases; more research is needed to understand the differences.
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paper_title: Next-generation phenotyping of electronic health records

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The national adoption of electronic health records (EHR) promises to make an unprecedented amount of data available for clinical research, but the data are complex, inaccurate, and frequently missing, and the record reflects complex processes aside from the patient’s physiological state. We believe that the path forward requires studying the EHR as an object of interest in itself, and that new models, learning from data, and collaboration will lead to efficient use of the valuable information currently locked in health records.
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paper_title: Barriers for Adopting Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by Physicians

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Introduction: Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are computerized medical information systems that collect, store and display patient information. They are means to create legible and organized recordings and to access clinical information about individual patients. Despite of the positive effects of the EMRs usage in medical practices, the adoption rate of such systems is still low and meets resistance from physicians. The EHRs represent an essential tool for improving both in the safety and quality of health care, though physicians must actively use these systems to accrue the benefits. This study was unsystematic-review. Aim: The aim of this study was to express barriers perceived y physicians to the adoption of the EHRs. Method of the study: This study was non-systematic reviewed which the literature was searched on barriers perceived by physicians to the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with the help of library, books, conference proceedings, data bank, and also searches engines available at Google, Google scholar. Discussion: For our searches, we employed the following keywords and their combinations: physicians, electronic medical record, electronic health record, barrier, and adoption in the searching areas of title, keywords, abstract, and full text. In this study, more than 100 articles and reports were collected and 27 of them were selected based on their relevancy. Electronic health record use requires the presence of certain user and system attributes, support from others, and numerous organizational and environment facilitators.
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paper_title: Anterior eye health recording.

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AIMS ::: To survey eye care practitioners from around the world regarding their current practice for anterior eye health recording to inform guidelines on best practice. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: The on-line survey examined the reported use of: word descriptions, sketching, grading scales or photographs; paper or computerised record cards and whether these were guided by proforma headings; grading scale choice, signs graded, level of precision, regional grading; and how much time eye care practitioners spent on average on anterior eye health recording. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Eight hundred and nine eye care practitioners from across the world completed the survey. Word description (p<0.001), sketches (p=0.002) and grading scales (p<0.001) were used more for recording the anterior eye health of contact lens patients than other patients, but photography was used similarly (p=0.132). Of the respondents, 84.5% used a grading scale, 13.5% using two, with the original Efron (51.6%) and CCLRU/Brien-Holden-Vision-Institute (48.5%) being the most popular. The median features graded was 11 (range 1-23), frequency from 91.6% (bulbar hyperaemia) to 19.6% (endothelial blebs), with most practitioners grading to the nearest unit (47.4%) and just 14.7% to one decimal place. The average time taken to report anterior eye health was reported to be 6.8±5.7 min, with the maximum time available 14.0±11 min. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Developed practice and research evidence allows best practice guidelines for anterior eye health recording to be recommended. It is recommended to: record which grading scale is used; always grade to one decimal place, record what you see live rather than based on how you intend to manage a condition; grade bulbar and limbal hyperaemia, limbal neovascularisation, conjunctival papillary redness and roughness (in white light to assess colouration with fluorescein instilled to aid visualisation of papillae/follicles), blepharitis, meibomian gland dysfunction and sketch staining (both corneal and conjunctival) at every visit. Record other anterior eye features only if they are remarkable, but indicate that the key tissue which have been examined.
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paper_title: Evaluation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) Tool for Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care.

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BACKGROUND ::: Integrating behavioral health into primary care can improve care quality; however, most electronic health records are not designed to meet the needs of integrated teams. We worked with practices and behavioral health (BH) clinicians to design a suite of electronic health record tools to address these needs ("BH e-Suite"). The purpose of this article is to examine whether implementation of the BH e-Suite changes process of care, intermediate clinical outcomes, and patient experiences, and whether its use is acceptable to practice members and BH clinicians. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We conducted a convergent mixed-methods proof-of-concept study, implementing the BH e-Suite across 6 Oregon federally qualified community health centers ("intervention clinics"). We matched intervention clinics to 6 control clinics, based on location and patient panel characteristics, to assess whether process of care (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9] and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 screening) and intermediate outcomes (PHQ-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scores) changed postimplementation. Prepost patient surveys were used to assess changes in patient experience. To elucidate factors influencing implementation, we merged quantitative findings with structured observations, surveys, and interviews with practice members. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Implementation improved process of care (PHQ-9 screening). During the course of the study, change in intermediate outcomes was not observed. Degree of BH e-Suite implementation varied: 2 clinics fully implemented, 2 partially implemented, and 2 practices did not implement at all. Initial practice conditions (eg, low resistance to change, higher capacity), process characteristics (eg, thoughtful planning), and individual characteristics (eg, high self-efficacy) were related to degree of implementation. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Health information technology tools designed for behavioral health integration must fit the needs of clinics for the successful uptake and improvement in patient experiences. Research is needed to further assess the effectiveness of this tool in improving patient outcomes and to optimize broader dissemination of this tool among primary care clinics integrating behavioral health.
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paper_title: Advance Care Planning Documentation Practices and Accessibility in the Electronic Health Record: Implications for Patient Safety.

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CONTEXT ::: Documenting patients' advance care planning (ACP) wishes is essential to providing value-aligned care, as is having this documentation readily accessible. Little is known about ACP documentation practices in the electronic health record. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVES ::: The objective of this study was to describe ACP documentation practices and the accessibility of documented discussions in the electronic health record. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: Participants were primary care patients at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, were ≥60 years old, and had ≥2 chronic/serious health conditions. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the prevalence of ACP documentation, including any legal forms/orders and discussions in the prior five years. We also determined accessibility of discussions (i.e., accessible centralized posting vs. inaccessible free text in progress notes). ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: The mean age of 414 participants was 71 years (SD ± 8), 9% were women, 43% were nonwhite, and 51% had documented ACP including 149 (36%) with forms/orders and 138 (33%) with discussions. Seventy-four participants (50%) with forms/orders lacked accompanying explanatory documentation. Most (55%) discussions were not easily accessible, including 70% of those documenting changes in treatment preferences from prior forms/orders. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: Half of chronically ill, older participants had documented ACP, including one-third with documented discussions. However, half of the patients with completed legal forms/orders had no accompanying documented explanatory discussions, and the majority of documented discussions were not easily accessible, even when wishes had changed. Ensuring that patients' preferences are documented and easily accessible is an important patient safety and quality improvement target to ensure patients' wishes are honored.
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paper_title: Ethical issues in electronic health records: A general overview.

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Electronic health record (EHR) is increasingly being implemented in many developing countries. It is the need of the hour because it improves the quality of health care and is also cost-effective. Technologies can introduce some hazards hence safety of information in the system is a real challenge. Recent news of security breaches has put a question mark on this system. Despite its increased usefulness, and increasing enthusiasm in its adoption, not much attention is being paid to the ethical issues that might arise. Securing EHR with an encrypted password is a probable option. The purpose of this article is to discuss the various ethical issues arising in the use of the EHRs and their possible solutions.
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paper_title: Recording routine forensic mental health evaluations should be a standard of practice in the 21st century

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The standard of practice for forensic interviews in criminal and delinquency cases, other than those conducted as part of brief preliminary screening evaluations or in emergency situations, should include a digital recording requirement. This standard should be adopted because of the greater availability of, and familiarity with, recording technology on the part of mental health professionals, the greater use and proven effectiveness of recording in other contexts of the criminal justice system, and the improvement in court presentation and accuracy of judicial determinations involving forensic assessments that recording will provide. The experience of practitioners with recording since professional associations last studied the issue should be taken into account, as informal data suggest it has been positive. Unfortunately, the legal system is unlikely to prompt this advance without its reconsideration by the forensic mental health professions, because current constitutional jurisprudence does not require recording and effectively makes it contingent upon request by examiners. Forensic evaluators thus have a valuable opportunity to educate the legal system on the utility and importance of this key reform, and so should adopt it as a best practice.
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paper_title: Assessing the impact of a primary care electronic medical record system in three Kenyan rural health centers

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OBJECTIVE ::: Efficient, effective health care requires rapid availability of patient information. We designed, implemented, and assessed the impact of a primary care electronic medical record (EMR) in three rural Kenyan health centers. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Local clinicians identified data required for primary care and public health reporting. We designed paper encounter forms to capture these data in adult medicine, pediatric, and antenatal clinics. Encounter form data were hand-entered into a new primary care module in an existing EMR serving onsite clinics serving patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Before subsequent visits, Summary Reports were printed containing selected patient data with reminders for needed HIV care. We assessed effects on patient flow and provider work with time-motion studies before implementation and two years later, and we surveyed providers' satisfaction with the EMR. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Between September 2008 and December 2011, 72 635 primary care patients were registered and 114 480 encounter forms were completed. During 2011, 32 193 unique patients visited primary care clinics, and encounter forms were completed for all visits. Of 1031 (3.2%) who were HIV-infected, 85% received HIV care. Patient clinic time increased from 37 to 81 min/visit after EMR implementation in one health center and 56 to 106 min/visit in the other. However, outpatient visits to both health centers increased by 85%. Three-quarters of increased time was spent waiting. Despite nearly doubling visits, there was no change in clinical officers' work patterns, but the nurses' and the clerks' patient care time decreased after EMR implementation. Providers were generally satisfied with the EMR but desired additional training. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: We successfully implemented a primary care EMR in three rural Kenyan health centers. Patient waiting time was dramatically lengthened while the nurses' and the clerks' patient care time decreased. Long-term use of EMRs in such settings will require changes in culture and workflow.
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paper_title: Barriers and facilitators to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) use in an urban slum

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OBJECTIVE ::: Rapid urbanization has led to the growth of urban slums and increased healthcare burdens for vulnerable populations. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have the potential to improve continuity of care for slum residents, but their implementation is complicated by technical and non-technical limitations. This study sought practical insights about facilitators and barriers to EMR implementation in urban slum environments. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Descriptive qualitative method was used to explore staff perceptions about a recent open-source EMR deployment in two primary care clinics in Kibera, Nairobi. Participants were interviewed using open-ended, semi-structured questions. Content analysis was used when exploring transcribed data. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Three major themes - systems, software, and social considerations - emerged from content analysis, with sustainability concerns prevailing. Although participants reported many systems (e.g., power, network, Internet, hardware, interoperability) and software (e.g., data integrity, confidentiality, function) challenges, social factors (e.g., identity management, training, use incentives) appeared the most important impediments to sustainability. ::: ::: ::: DISCUSSION ::: These findings are consistent with what others have reported, especially the importance of practical barriers to EMR deployments in resource-constrained settings. Other findings contribute unique insights about social determinants of EMR impact in slum settings, including the challenge of multiple-identity management and development of meaningful incentives to staff compliance. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: This study exposes front-line experiences with opportunities and shortcomings of EMR implementations in urban slum primary care clinics. Although the promise is great, there are a number of unique system, software and social challenges that EMR advocates should address before expecting sustainable EMR use in resource-constrained settings.
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paper_title: Computerized provider documentation: findings and implications of a multisite study of clinicians and administrators

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OBJECTIVE ::: Clinical documentation is central to the medical record and so to a range of healthcare and business processes. As electronic health record adoption expands, computerized provider documentation (CPD) is increasingly the primary means of capturing clinical documentation. Previous CPD studies have focused on particular stakeholder groups and sites, often limiting their scope and conclusions. To address this, we studied multiple stakeholder groups from multiple sites across the USA. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We conducted 14 focus groups at five Department of Veterans Affairs facilities with 129 participants (54 physicians or practitioners, 34 nurses, and 37 administrators). Investigators qualitatively analyzed resultant transcripts, developed categories linked to the data, and identified emergent themes. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Five major themes related to CPD emerged: communication and coordination; control and limitations in expressivity; information availability and reasoning support; workflow alteration and disruption; and trust and confidence concerns. The results highlight that documentation intertwines tightly with clinical and administrative workflow. Perceptions differed between the three stakeholder groups but remained consistent within groups across facilities. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: CPD has dramatically changed documentation processes, impacting clinical understanding, decision-making, and communication across multiple groups. The need for easy and rapid, yet structured and constrained, documentation often conflicts with the need for highly reliable and retrievable information to support clinical reasoning and workflows. Current CPD systems, while better than paper overall, often do not meet the needs of users, partly because they are based on an outdated 'paper-chart' paradigm. These findings should inform those implementing CPD systems now and future plans for more effective CPD systems.
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paper_title: Recruitment experience for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial: Using EMR initiatives and minimizing research infrastructure.

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CONTEXT ::: Modernized approaches to multisite randomized controlled trials (RCT) include the use of electronic medical records (EMR) for recruitment, remote data capture (RDC) for multisite data collection, and strategies to reduce the need for research infrastructure. These features facilitate the conduct of pragmatic trials, or trials conducted in "real life" settings. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: We describe the recruitment experience of an RCT to evaluate a clinic-based intervention targeting urban youth with asthma. ::: ::: ::: MATERIALS AND METHODS ::: Using encounter and prescription databases, a list of potentially-eligible patients was linked to the Epic appointment scheduling system. Patients were enrolled during a scheduled visit and then electronically randomized to a tailored versus generic online intervention. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ::: 1146 appointments for 580 eligible patients visiting 5 clinics were identified, of which 45.9% (266/580) were randomized to reach targeted enrollment (n=250). RDC facilitated multisite enrollment. Intervention content was further personalized through real- time entry of asthma medications prescribed at the clinic visit. EMR monitoring helped with recruitment trouble-shooting. Systemic challenges included a system-wide EMR transition and a system-wide reorganization of clinic staffing. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Modernized RCTs can accelerate translation of research findings. Electronic initiatives facilitated implementation of this RCT; however, adaptations to recruitment strategies resulted in a more "explanatory" framework. .
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paper_title: Validation of a Nurses’ Views on Electronic Medical Record Systems (EMR) Questionnaire in Turkish Health System

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Using of EMR in health services and organizations is steadily increasing for quality improvement, cost effectiveness and performance development. However, no validated national and international instruments (scale, questionnaire, index, and inventory) have assessed the effectiveness, satisfaction, health care savings, patient safety and cost minimization of electronic medical and health systems from the viewpoint and perceptions of nurses in Turkish health services. The perceptions of health care professionals especially physicians and nurses can contribute important information that may predict their acceptance of EMR and desired mode of use for EMR, evaluation performance of EMR thus guiding EMR implementation in hospitals. This article is a report of validation of the instrument to measure nurses' views on the use, quality and user satisfaction with EMR in Turkish health system. Items in the questionnaire were designed and obtained following O.G. Otieno, H. Toyama, M. Asonuma, M. Kanai-Pak, K. Naitoh's questionnaire about Use, Quality and User Satisfaction with EMR systems. Reliability and validity were examined and investigated in terms of responses from 487 nurses from one education hospital in Ankara, Turkey. This study was planned and conducted at a university hospital. The validation process was based on construct validity in this study. The response rate was 74.92%. Cronbach's alphas of three factors (use, quality and satisfaction of EMR) ranged from 0.78 to 0.94. Goodness-of-fit indices from the confirmatory factor analysis showed a reasonable model fit. Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that χ2 statistic indicated significant result (p < 0.001) and model fit was acceptable according to relative χ2 statistic (χ2/df = 2.8 < 5). Further validation of the instrument could yield positive results in health systems in the different countries. Also further validation and reliability studies could be planned on physicians and other health professionals.
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paper_title: Epidemic Surveillance Using an Electronic Medical Record: An Empiric Approach to Performance Improvement

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BACKGROUNDS ::: Electronic medical records (EMR) form a rich repository of information that could benefit public health. We asked how structured and free-text narrative EMR data should be combined to improve epidemic surveillance for acute respiratory infections (ARI). ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: Eight previously characterized ARI case detection algorithms (CDA) were applied to historical EMR entries to create authentic time series of daily ARI case counts (background). An epidemic model simulated influenza cases (injection). From the time of the injection, cluster-detection statistics were applied daily on paired background+injection (combined) and background-only time series. This cycle was then repeated with the injection shifted to each week of the evaluation year. We computed: a) the time from injection to the first statistical alarm uniquely found in the combined dataset (Detection Delay); b) how often alarms originated in the background-only dataset (false-alarm rate, or FAR); and c) the number of cases found within these false alarms (Caseload). For each CDA, we plotted the Detection Delay as a function of FAR or Caseload, over a broad range of alarm thresholds. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: CDAs that combined text analyses seeking ARI symptoms in clinical notes with provider-assigned diagnostic codes in order to maximize the precision rather than the sensitivity of case-detection lowered Detection Delay at any given FAR or Caseload. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: An empiric approach can guide the integration of EMR data into case-detection methods that improve both the timeliness and efficiency of epidemic detection.
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paper_title: The effect of electronic medical record application on the length of stay in a Chinese general hospital: a department- and disease-focused interrupted time-series study

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A key purpose of electronic medical records (EMR) introduced in medical institutions is to improve work efficiency. The average length of stay (LOS) is just an important indicator to evaluate work efficiency of medical care in hospitals. Recently, there have been reports about effects of EMR application on LOS in medical institutions, but they have been mostly based on the overall analysis of a region or a hospital and not of specific clinical departments and diseases or based on longer time periods. Therefore, in this study, we selected four clinical departments and four diseases with the largest number of inpatients from January 2004 to December 2012 in a Chinese 3A general hospital and used an interrupted time-series method by the departments and diseases to analyze the relationship of EMR application and LOS. Through our analyses, we concluded that, under unadjusted condition, LOS were all reduced (P < 0.001) after EMR application in four departments and for four diseases. After adjustment by gender, age or admission condition, LOS still all decreased after EMR application (P < 0.05) regardless of departments or diseases. The trend changes in LOS reversed from increasing to decreasing in the orthopedics department (coefficient: 0.016 to -0.079), the cardiovascular surgery department (coefficient: 0.007 to -0.126) and all departments overall (coefficient: 0.004 to -0.070), as well as for the intervertebral disc disorders (coefficient: 0.026 to -0.068). Furthermore, the decreasing trend gained a larger slope in the cardiology department (coefficient: -0.017 to -0.023), the neurology department (coefficient: -0.012 to -0.043) and for the coronary heart disease (coefficient: -0.010 to -0.018), the ventricular septal defect (coefficient: -0.024 to -0.059), and the cerebral infarction (coefficient: -0.031 to -0.040). Together, these findings indicate that EMR application coincided with a decrease in LOS and may have a contribution to the decrease.
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paper_title: EMR continuance usage intention of healthcare professionals

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Electronic medical records (EMRs) have been proven to be effective tools for improving the safety and quality of healthcare despite their relatively low usage rate in hospitals. The long-term development by EMRs depends on the continued use of healthcare professionals. In this study, technology continuance theory (TCT) was used to evaluate the short-term and long-term continuance acceptance of EMRs among healthcare professionals. Data were gathered by surveying 195 medical professionals in Iran. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The analysis showed that the TCT provided a deep understanding of user continuance intention toward EMRs. In addition, the findings illustrated that the determinants of continuance intention vary between short-term and long-term users. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
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paper_title: Factors affecting sustainable adoption of e-health technology in developing countries: an exploratory survey of Nigerian hospitals from the perspective of healthcare professionals

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Background ::: E-health technology applications are essential tools of modern information technology that improve quality of healthcare delivery in hospitals of both developed and developing countries. However, despite its positive benefits, studies indicate that the rate of the e-health adoption in some developing countries is either low or underutilized. This is due in part, to barriers such as resistance from healthcare professionals, poor infrastructure, and low technical expertise among others. ::: ::: ::: Objective ::: The aim of this study is to investigate, identify and analyze the underlying factors that affect healthcare professionals decision to adopt and use e-health technology applications in developing countries, with particular reference to hospitals in Nigeria. ::: ::: ::: Methods ::: The study used a cross sectional approach in the form of a close-ended questionnaire to collect quantitative data from a sample of 465 healthcare professionals randomly selected from 15 hospitals in Nigeria. We used the modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the dependent variable and external factors as independent variables. The collected data was then analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis such as frequency test, reliability analysis, and correlation coefficient analysis. ::: ::: ::: Results ::: The results obtained, which correspond with findings from other researches published, indicate that perceived usefulness, belief, willingness, as well as attitude of healthcare professionals have significant influence on their intention to adopt and use the e-health technology applications. Other strategic factors identified include low literacy level and experience in using the e-health technology applications, lack of motivation, poor organizational and management policies. ::: ::: ::: Conclusion ::: The study contributes to the literature by pinpointing significant areas where findings can positively affect, or be found useful by, healthcare policy decision makers in Nigeria and other developing countries. This can help them understand their areas of priorities and weaknesses when planning for e-health technology adoption and implementation.
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paper_title: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Organizational Change: Explaining Resistance Through Profession, Organizational Experience, and EHR Communication Quality

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ABSTRACTThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by the U.S. government in 2009 mandates that all healthcare organizations adopt a certified electronic health record (EHR) system by 2015. Failure to comply will result in Medicare reimbursement penalties, which steadily increase with each year of delinquency. There are several repercussions of this seemingly top-down, rule-bound organizational change—one of which is employee resistance. Given the penalties for violating EHR meaningful use standards are ongoing, resistance to this mandate presents a serious issue for healthcare organizations. This study surveyed 345 employees in one healthcare organization that recently implemented an EHR. Analysis of variance results offer theoretical and pragmatic contributions by demonstrating physicians, nurses, and employees with more experience in their organization are the most resistant to EHR change. The job characteristics model is used to explain these findings. Hierarchical regression analyses also demo...
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paper_title: Approaches to Recording Drug Allergies in Electronic Health Records: Qualitative Study

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Funding: This report is independent research commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) Connecting for Health Evaluation Programme. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NHS Connecting for Health Evaluation Programme, or the Department of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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paper_title: Ceiling effect in EMR system assimilation: a multiple case study in primary care family practices

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There has been indisputable growth in adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems in the recent years. However, physicians’ progress in using these systems has stagnated when measured with maturity scales. While this so-called ceiling effect has been observed and its consequences described in previous studies, there is a paucity of research on the elements that could explain such an outcome. We first suggest that in the context of EMR systems we are in presence of a “tiered ceiling effect” and then we show why such phenomenon occurs. We conducted in-depth case studies in three primary care medical practices in Canada where physicians had been using EMR systems for 3 years or more. A total of 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants: family physicians (about half of the interviews), nurses, secretaries, and administrative managers. Additional information was obtained through notes taken during observations of users interacting with their EMR systems and consultation of relevant documents at each site. We used abductive reasoning to infer explanations of the observed phenomenon by going back and forth between the case data and conceptual insights. Our analysis shows that a ceiling effect has taken place in the three clinics. We identified a set of conditions preventing the users from overcoming the ceiling. In adopting an EMR system, all three clinics essentially sought improved operational efficiency. This had an influence on the criteria used to assess the systems available on the market and eventually led to the adoption of a system that met the specified criteria without being optimal. Later, training sessions focussed on basic functionalities that minimally disturbed physicians’ habits while helping their medical practices become more efficient. Satisfied with the outcome of their system use, physicians were likely to ignore more advanced EMR system functionalities. This was because their knowledge about EMR systems came almost exclusively from a single source of information: their EMR system vendors. This knowledge took the form of interpretations of what the innovation was (know-what), with little consideration of the rationales for innovation adoption (know-why) or hands-on strategies for adopting, implementing and assimilating the innovation in the organization (know-how). This paper provides a holistic view of the technological innovation process in primary care and contends that limited learning, satisficing behaviours and organizational inertia are important factors leading to the ceiling effect frequently experienced in the EMR system assimilation phase.
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paper_title: Feasibility of e-Health Interventions on Smoking Cessation among Vietnamese Active Internet Users

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Introduction: Although e-health interventions are widely implemented as a supportive measure to smoking cessation, there is a lack of evidence in the feasibility of its application among Vietnamese youths, which is considered to be one of the most frequent internet using populations. This study assessed the quitting attempts among smokers and their preference and willingness to pay for smartphone-based cessation supporting applications in a sample of active internet users approached. Methods: A total of 1082 participants were recruited for the online-based survey from August to October 2015 in Vietnam. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, health information seeking behaviors on the internet, smoking status, quitting attempts and willingness to pay for smartphone-based cessation supporting applications were collected. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the associated factors with current smoking and willingness to pay for the smoking cessation application. Results: About 11% of participants were current smokers while 73.4% had attempted to quit smoking. Only 26.8% of the individuals indicated that they were willing to utilize a smartphone application to assist them in quitting. Participants who were male, had partners/spouse and lived at other places were more likely to smoke cigarette. Meanwhile, people who spent 50–70% of their online time to read health information were less likely to smoke. Results also show that living with family and never sharing health information on the internet were negatively associated with a participant’s willingness to pay for the smartphone application. Meanwhile, people who highly trusted health information were more likely to be willing to pay for the application. Conclusions: This prevalence of smoking and associated factors can provide potential indicators for creating several public health interventions in the new environment with the increasing development of information technology. This study implies that in order to expand the coverage of smoking cessation interventions, we recommend the integration of e-health interventions with clinical- or telephone-based conventional models by providing smartphone applications and information on the internet from reliable sources.
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paper_title: Barriers to organizational adoption of EMR systems in family physician practices: A mixed-methods study in Canada

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Abstract Background EMR system can provide three main types of benefits: it can solve the logistical organization problems associated with paper systems; it can improve the quality of professionals' clinical decisions; and it can improve physicians' return on their practices by reducing the cost of managing clinical information. According to the 2012 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey, Canada ranked 10th out of 11 countries in terms of family physicians' adoption of EMR systems. Our main purpose is to investigate the reasons why so many primary care medical practices in this country have not decided to invest in these systems yet. Methods To achieve our main objective, a mixed-methods study was performed. We first conducted a Delphi study with a panel of 21 experts made up of general practitioners with extensive professional experience and a very good understanding of the issues surrounding the introduction of health IT in private medical practices. As a second step, we collected and analyzed data from a large questionnaire survey of family physicians working in medical practices without EMR systems ( n =431). Results The Delphi study reveals that private medical practices are hindered by four types of barriers when faced with the initial decision to invest in an EMR system, namely, behavioral, cognitive or knowledge-based, economic, and technological. Survey findings then indicate that the key challenges preventing private medical practices from investing in an EMR system are mainly related to economic and knowledge barriers. Surprisingly, we also found a cluster of medical practices which, although they have not invested in an EMR system, perceive no such barriers to adoption. Conclusions A thorough understanding of the barriers faced by family physician practices in adopting an EMR system would help governments and other key stakeholders target policies and measures in support of medical practices. The "one size fits all" approach to such policies and measures is clearly inappropriate, given this study's findings that many medical practices face practically no barriers to EMR adoption, and that others differ markedly as to the type of barriers faced, be they mostly "soft" such as knowledge barriers or "hard" such as economic barriers.
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paper_title: Automatic population of eMeasurements from EHR systems for inpatient falls

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Objective ::: Representing nursing data sets in a standard way will help to facilitate sharing relevant information across settings. We aimed to populate nursing process and outcome metrics with electronic health record (EHR) data and then compare the results with event reporting systems. ::: ::: ::: Methods ::: We used the "eMeasure" development process of the National Quality Forum adopted by the American Nurses Association. We used operational definitions of quality measures from the American Nurses Association and the US Institute for Healthcare Improvement and employed concept mapping of local data elements to 2 controlled vocabularies to define a standard data dictionary: (1) Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes and (2) International Classification for Nursing Practice. We assessed feasibility using the nursing data set of 7829 and 8199 patients from 2 general hospitals with different EHR systems. Using inpatient falls as a use case, we compared the populated measures with results from the event reporting systems. ::: ::: ::: Results ::: We identified 17 care components and 118 unique concepts and matched them with data elements in the EHRs. Including suboptimal mapping, 98% of the assessment concepts mapped to Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes and 52.9% of intervention concepts mapped to International Classification for Nursing Practice. While not all process indicators were available from event reporting systems, we successfully populated 9 fall prevention process indicators and the fall rate outcome indicator from the 2 EHRs. We were unable to populate the falls with an injury rate indicator. ::: ::: ::: Conclusions ::: EHR data can populate fall prevention process measure metrics and at least one inpatient fall prevention outcome metric.
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paper_title: The trends in EMR and CPOE adoption in Japan under the national strategy

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PURPOSE ::: We evaluate the status of health information system (HIS) adoption (In this paper, "HIS" means electronic medical record system (EMR) and computerized provider order entry system (CPOE)). We also evaluate the affect of the policies of Japanese government. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: The status of HIS adoption in Japan from 2002 to 2011 was investigated using reports from complete surveys of all medical institutions conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). HIS-related budgets invested by the Japanese government from 2000 to 2008 were surveyed mainly using literatures and administrative documents of the Japanese government (MHLW and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: The rates of HIS adoption in Japan in 2011 were: 20.9% for the rate of EMR adoption in clinics, 20.1% for the rate of EMR adoption and 36.6% for the rate of CPOE adoption in hospitals. In hospitals, the rate of EMR and CPOE adoption were 51.5% and 78.6% in 822 large hospitals (400 or more beds), 27.3% and 52.1% in 1832 medium hospitals (200-399 beds), and 13.5% and 26.0% in 5951 small hospitals (less than 200 beds), respectively. Japan has a large number of medical institutions (99,547 clinics and 8605 hospitals) with a low rate of EMR adoption in clinics and a high rate of HIS adoption in hospitals. The national budget to expand HIS use was implemented for medium and large hospitals mainly. The policy target of New IT Reform Strategy was not achieved. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: The rate of HIS adoption in Japanese medium and large hospitals is high compared to small hospitals and clinics, and this is attributable to the fact that the Japanese government placed the target for HIS adoption on key hospitals with a large number of beds and concentrated budget investment in those hospitals. Besides, legal approval of EMR and the introduction of Diagnostic Procedure Combination system facilitated EMR adoption. There is less financial support for small hospitals than medium and large hospitals. The low rate of EMR adoption in clinics stems from the facts that there was little subsidies or incentives in the national remuneration for medical services, lack of cooperation from medical associations, and a failed attempt to mandate computerization of medical accounting (medical billing). Giving financial incentives is an effective means of raising EMR adoption rate. For wide usage of HIS, more financial support and incentive may be necessary for small hospitals and clinics.
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paper_title: Process evaluation of a tailored mobile health intervention aiming to reduce fatigue in airline pilots

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BackgroundMORE Energy is a mobile health intervention which aims to reduce fatigue and improve health in airline pilots. The primary objective of this process evaluation was to assess the reach, dose delivered, compliance, fidelity, barriers and facilitators, and satisfaction of the intervention. The second objective was to investigate the associations of adherence to the intervention with compliance and with participant satisfaction. Thirdly, we investigated differences between the subgroups within the target population.MethodsThe intervention consisted of a smartphone application, supported by a website. It provided advice on optimal light exposure, sleep, nutrition, and physical activity, tailored to flight and personal characteristics. The reach of the intervention was determined by comparing the intervention group participants and the airline pilots who did not participate. The dose delivered was defined as the total number of participants that was sent an instruction email. Objective compliance was measured through the Control Management System of the application. To determine the fidelity, an extensive log was kept throughout the intervention period. Subjective compliance, satisfaction, barriers, facilitators, and adherence were assessed using online questionnaires. Associations between the extent to which the participants applied the advice in daily life (adherence), compliance, and satisfaction were analysed as well. Finally, outcomes of participants of different age groups and haul types were compared.ResultsA total of 2222 pilots were made aware of the study. From this group, 502 pilots met the inclusion criteria and did agree to participate. The reach of the study proved to be 22 % and the dose delivered was 99 %. The included pilots were randomized into the intervention group (n = 251) or the control group (n = 251). Of the intervention group participants, 81 % consulted any advice, while 17 % did this during four weeks or more. Fidelity was 67 %. The participants rated the intervention with a 6.4 (SD 1.6). Adherence was not associated with compliance, but was associated with satisfaction (p ≤ 0.001). Pilots of 35 to 45 year old were significantly more interested in advice regarding physical activity than their colleagues, and short-haul pilots were more interested in advice regarding nutrition compared to long-haul pilots.ConclusionsThe MORE Energy intervention was well received, resulting in an adequate reach and a high dose delivered. The compliance and satisfaction scores indicate that engagement and functionality should be enhanced, and the content and applicability of the advices should be improved to appeal all subgroups of the target population.Trial registrationNederlands Trial Register NTR2722. Registered 27 January 2011.
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paper_title: Designing a Patient-Centered User Interface for Access Decisions about EHR Data: Implications from Patient Interviews

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BACKGROUND ::: Electronic health records change the landscape of patient data sharing and privacy by increasing the amount of information collected and stored and the number of potential recipients. Patients desire granular control over who receives what information in their electronic health record (EHR), but there are no current patient interfaces that allow them to record their preferences for EHR access. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: Our aim was to derive the user needs of patients regarding the design of a user interface that records patients' individual choices about who can access data in their EHRs. ::: ::: ::: DESIGN ::: We used semi-structured interviews. ::: ::: ::: SETTING ::: The study was conducted in Central Indiana. ::: ::: ::: PARTICIPANTS ::: Thirty patients with data stored in an EHR, the majority of whom (70 %) had highly sensitive health EHR data, were included in the study. ::: ::: ::: APPROACH ::: We conducted a thematic and quantitative analysis of transcribed interview data. ::: ::: ::: KEY RESULTS ::: Patients rarely knew what data were in their EHRs, but would have liked to know. They also wanted to be able to control who could access what information in their EHR and wanted to be notified when their data we re accessed. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: We derived six implications for the design of a patient-centered tool to allow individual choice in the disclosure of EHR: easy patient access to their EHRs; an overview of current EHR sharing permissions; granular, hierarchical control over EHR access; EHR access controls based on dates; contextual privacy controls; and notification when their EHRs are accessed.
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paper_title: Facilitation or Hindrance: Physicians’ Perception on Best Practice Alerts (BPA) Usage in an Electronic Health Record System

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ABSTRACTA qualitative study was conducted to examine physicians’ perception on best practice alerts (BPAs) usage under the theoretical framework of technology acceptance model (TAM). In particular,...
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paper_title: The Influence of the Degree of Rurality on EMR Adoption, by Physician Specialty

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Objective ::: ::: To explore the influence of varying degrees of remoteness on practice-level electronic medical record (EMR) adoption, including whether the effect differs across practice specialty. ::: ::: ::: ::: Data Sources ::: ::: Survey data on over 270,000 office-based physician practices (representing over 1,250,000 providers) collected by SK&A information services during 2012. ::: ::: ::: ::: Study Design ::: ::: This study examined differences in EMR adoption by practices located across the nine-category rural–urban continuum. Logistic regressions and associated marginal effects are used to assess how much a move up or down the rural–urban continuum code impacts the likelihood of EMR adoption, after controlling for characteristics likely to affect EMR adoption such as practice size and specialty. ::: ::: ::: ::: Principal Findings ::: ::: Overall practice-level EMR adoption rates generally increase with the degree of rurality and range from 47 percent in the most urban counties to over 60 percent in the most rural. Moving from the most urban county to the most rural corresponded to a 7 percent increase in the likelihood of EMR adoption (p < .01). ::: ::: ::: ::: Conclusions ::: ::: EMR adoption rates do vary significantly across nonmetropolitan counties, and they generally increase as a practice becomes more rural. From a policy perspective, this suggests that urban practices may in fact be the lowest hanging remaining fruit for increasing EMR adoption rates.
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paper_title: Improving Diagnostic Accuracy Using EHR in Emergency Departments: A Simulation-Based Study.

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Display Omitted EHR use led to an increase in the quality of the clinical decisions.Accessing EHR raises the confidence level of physicians in their diagnosis.The decision-making process is faster and more efficient with EHR.The findings may guide policy makers in deciding to implement EHRs. It is widely believed that Electronic Health Records (EHR) improve medical decision-making by enabling medical staff to access medical information stored in the system. It remains unclear, however, whether EHR indeed fulfills this claim under the severe time constraints of Emergency Departments (EDs). We assessed whether accessing EHR in an ED actually improves decision-making by clinicians. A simulated ED environment was created at the Israel Center for Medical Simulation (MSR). Four different actors were trained to simulate four specific complaints and behavior and 'consulted' 26 volunteer ED physicians. Each physician treated half of the cases (randomly) with access to EHR, and their medical decisions were compared to those where the physicians had no access to EHR. Comparison of diagnostic accuracy with and without access showed that accessing the EHR led to an increase in the quality of the clinical decisions. Physicians accessing EHR were more highly informed and thus made more accurate decisions. The percentage of correct diagnoses was higher and these physicians were more confident in their diagnoses and made their decisions faster.
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paper_title: Prospects for Mobile Health in Pakistan and Other Developing Countries

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Pakistan is a developing country with more than half of its ::: population located in rural areas. These areas neither have sufficient health ::: care facilities nor a strong infrastructure that can address the health needs ::: of the people. The expansion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ::: around the globe has set up an unprecedented opportunity for delivery of ::: healthcare facilities and infrastructure in these rural areas of Pakistan as ::: well as in other developing countries. Mobile Health (mHealth)—the provision of ::: health care services through mobile telephony—will revolutionize the way health ::: care is delivered. From messaging campaigns to remote monitoring, mobile ::: technology will impact every aspect of health systems. This paper highlights ::: the growth of ICT sector and status of health care facilities in the developing ::: countries, and explores prospects of mHealth as a transformer for health ::: systems and service delivery especially in the remote rural areas.
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paper_title: Using electronic health records to save money

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OBJECTIVES ::: Health information technology, especially electronic health records (EHRs), can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare providers. This study assessed the cost-savings of incorporating a list of preferred specialty care providers into the EHRs used by all primary care physicians (PCPs), accompanied by a comprehensive implementation plan. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: On January 1, 2005, all specialty clinic providers at the Israeli Defense Forces were divided into one of four financial classes based on their charges, class 1, the least expensive, being the most preferred, followed by classes 2-4. This list was incorporated into the EHRs used by all PCPs in primary care clinics. PCPs received comprehensive training. Target referral goals were determined for each class and measured for 4 years, together with the total cost of all specialist visits in the first year compared to the following years. Quality assessment (QA) scores were used as a measure of the program's effect on the quality of patient care. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: During 2005-2008, a marginally significant decline in referrals to class 1 was observed (r=-0.254, p=0.078), however a significant increase in referral rates to class 2 was observed (r=0.957, p=0.042), concurrent with a decrease in referral rates to classes 3 and 4 (r=-0.312, p=0.024). An inverse correlation was observed between year and total costs for all visits to specialists (2008 prices; r=-0.96, p=0.04), and between the mean cost of one specialist visit over the 4 years, indicating a significant reduction in real costs (2008 prices; r=-0.995, p=0.005). QA was not affected by these changes (r=0.94, p=0.016). ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: From a policy perspective, our data suggest that EHR can facilitate effective utilization of healthcare providers and decrease costs.
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paper_title: Electronic medical record and glaucoma medications: connecting the medication reconciliation with adherence

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To evaluate consistency in documentation of glaucoma medications in the electronic medical record and identify which regimen patients adhere to when inconsistencies exist. Factors contributing to medication nonadherence are also explored.Retrospective chart review of medication adherence encompassing 200 patients from three glaucoma physicians at a tertiary referral center over a 1-month period. Adherence was determined by the consistency between a patients stated medication regimen and either the active medication list in the electronic medical record, or the physicians planned medication regimen in the preceding clinic visit. Patient charts were also reviewed for patient sex, age, primary language, race, and total number of medications.A total of 160 charts showed consistency in documentation between the physician note and electronic medication reconciliation. Of those patients, 83.1% reported adherence with their glaucoma medication schedule. When there was a discrepancy in documentation (40 charts), 72.5% patients followed the physician-stated regimen vs 20% who followed neither vs 7.5% who followed the medical record (P<0.01). No difference in adherence was observed based on sex (P=0.912) or total number of medications taken (P=0.242). Language, both English- (P=0.075) and Haitian (P=0.10) -speaking populations, as well as race, Caucasian (P=0.31), African-American (P=0.54), and Hispanic (P=0.58), had no impact on medication adherence. Patients over 80 years of age were more nonadherent as compared to other decades (P=0.04).Inconsistent documentation between the electronic medical record physician note and medication regimen may contribute to patient medication nonadherence. Patients over 80 years of age were associated with higher rates of nonadherence, while sex, total number of medications, race, and language had no interaction with medication adherence.
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paper_title: Patient satisfaction, e-health and the evolution of the patient-general practitioner relationship: Evidence from an Italian survey.

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BACKGROUND ::: Scientific and public interest in the use of the Internet for health-related purposes has grown considerably. Concerns regarding its impact on patient-doctor relationship and risks for patients have inflamed the debate. Literature provides scarce evidence in this field. This paper investigates whether a patient's decision to use the web also depends on previous experience and satisfaction with healthcare. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Statistical analyses were conducted using data from a survey of more than 1700 citizens in Tuscany (Italy). The Andersen behavioural model was adopted as framework for investigating two patient behaviours: Internet use for health-related purposes; discussion of online findings with the physician. Two separate multivariate logistic models were performed to verify whether satisfaction and experience with healthcare system and general practitioners were associated with the e-health behaviours. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Age, education and dissatisfaction with the healthcare system are the main determinant factors of e-health use. The behaviour of sharing the e-health experience with general practitioners is more diffused among those patients who are more satisfied with physicians for the involvement in the decision-making process and suggestions on life-style. ::: ::: ::: IMPLICATIONS ::: Whether patients choice to share information found online with the doctor depends on the ability of the doctor to engage patients in decision-making, e-health can produce a 'double-empowerment' process: experienced by the patient on the Internet, and legitimated by the doctor during encounters.
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paper_title: Barriers for Adopting Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by Physicians

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Introduction: Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are computerized medical information systems that collect, store and display patient information. They are means to create legible and organized recordings and to access clinical information about individual patients. Despite of the positive effects of the EMRs usage in medical practices, the adoption rate of such systems is still low and meets resistance from physicians. The EHRs represent an essential tool for improving both in the safety and quality of health care, though physicians must actively use these systems to accrue the benefits. This study was unsystematic-review. Aim: The aim of this study was to express barriers perceived y physicians to the adoption of the EHRs. Method of the study: This study was non-systematic reviewed which the literature was searched on barriers perceived by physicians to the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with the help of library, books, conference proceedings, data bank, and also searches engines available at Google, Google scholar. Discussion: For our searches, we employed the following keywords and their combinations: physicians, electronic medical record, electronic health record, barrier, and adoption in the searching areas of title, keywords, abstract, and full text. In this study, more than 100 articles and reports were collected and 27 of them were selected based on their relevancy. Electronic health record use requires the presence of certain user and system attributes, support from others, and numerous organizational and environment facilitators.
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paper_title: Incorporating Pharmacogenomics into Health Information Technology, Electronic Health Record and Decision Support System: An Overview

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As the adoption of information technology in healthcare is rising, the potentiality of moving Pharmacogenomics from benchside to bedside is aggravated. This paper reviews the current status of Pharmacogenomics (PGx) information and the attempts for incorporating them into the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system through Decision Support Systems (DSSs). Rigorous review strategies of PGx information and providing context-relevant recommendations in form of action plan- dose adjustment, lab tests rather than just information- would be ideal for making clinical recommendations out of PGx information. Lastly, realistic projections of what pharmacogenomics can provide is another important aspect in incorporating Pharmacogenomics into health information technology.
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paper_title: Electronic health records to facilitate clinical research

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Electronic health records (EHRs) provide opportunities to enhance patient care, embed performance measures in clinical practice, and facilitate clinical research. Concerns have been raised about the increasing recruitment challenges in trials, burdensome and obtrusive data collection, and uncertain generalizability of the results. Leveraging electronic health records to counterbalance these trends is an area of intense interest. The initial applications of electronic health records, as the primary data source is envisioned for observational studies, embedded pragmatic or post-marketing registry-based randomized studies, or comparative effectiveness studies. Advancing this approach to randomized clinical trials, electronic health records may potentially be used to assess study feasibility, to facilitate patient recruitment, and streamline data collection at baseline and follow-up. Ensuring data security and privacy, overcoming the challenges associated with linking diverse systems and maintaining infrastructure for repeat use of high quality data, are some of the challenges associated with using electronic health records in clinical research. Collaboration between academia, industry, regulatory bodies, policy makers, patients, and electronic health record vendors is critical for the greater use of electronic health records in clinical research. This manuscript identifies the key steps required to advance the role of electronic health records in cardiovascular clinical research.
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paper_title: E-health in Switzerland: The laborious adoption of the federal law on electronic health records (EHR) and health information exchange (HIE) networks

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Abstract Within the framework of a broader e-health strategy launched a decade ago, in 2015 Switzerland passed a new federal law on patients’ electronic health records (EHR). The reform requires hospitals to adopt interoperable EHRs to facilitate data sharing and cooperation among healthcare providers, ultimately contributing to improvements in quality of care and efficiency in the health system. Adoption is voluntary for ambulatories and private practices, that may however be pushed towards EHRs by patients. The latter have complete discretion in the choice of the health information to share. Moreover, careful attention is given to data security issues. Despite good intentions, the high institutional and organisational fragmentation of the Swiss healthcare system, as well as the lack of full agreement with stakeholders on some critical points of the reform, slowed the process of adoption of the law. In particular, pilot projects made clear that the participation of ambulatories is doomed to be low unless appropriate incentives are put in place. Moreover, most stakeholders point at the strategy proposed to finance technical implementation and management of EHRs as a major drawback. After two years of intense preparatory work, the law entered into force in April 2017.
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paper_title: Hepatitis C screening in commercially insured U.S. birth-cohort patients: Factors associated with testing and effect of an EMR-based screening alert

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Background and Objectives ::: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing rates among U.S. birth-cohort patients have been studied extensively, limited data exists to differentiate birth-cohort screening from risk- or liver disease-based testing. This study aims to identify factors associated with HCV antibody (HCV-Ab) testing in a group of insured birth cohort patients, to determine true birth cohort testing rates, and to determine whether an electronic medical record (EMR)-driven Best Practice Alert (BPA) would improve birth cohort testing rates. ::: ::: ::: Methods ::: All birth-cohort outpatients between 2010 and 2015 were identified. HCV-Ab test results, clinical, and demographic variables were extracted from the EMR, and factors associated with testing were analyzed by logistic regression. True birth-cohort HCV screening rates were determined by detailed chart review for all outpatient visits during one calendar month. An automated Best Practice Alert was used to identify unscreened patients at the point of care, and to prompt HCV testing. Screening rates before and after system-wide implementation of the BPA were compared. ::: ::: ::: Results ::: The historic HCV-Ab testing rate was 11.2% (11,976/106,753). Younger age, female gender, and African American, Asian, or Hispanic ethnicity, and medical comorbidities such as chronic hemodialysis, HIV infection, and rheumatologic and psychiatric comorbidities were associated with higher testing rates. However, during the one-month sampling period, true age cohort-based testing was performed in only 69/10,089 patients (0.68%). Following the system-wide implementation of the HCV BPA, testing rates increased from 0.68% to 10.76% (P<0.0001). ::: ::: ::: Conclusions ::: We documented low HCV-Ab testing rates in our baby boomers population. HCV testing was typically performed in the presence of known risk factors or established liver disease. The implementation of an EMR-based HCV BPA resulted in a marked increase in testing rates. Our study highlights current HCV screening gaps, and the utility of the EMR to improve screening rates and population health.
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paper_title: Integrating patient voices into health information for self-care and patient-clinician partnerships: Veterans Affairs design recommendations for patient-generated data applications

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Electronic health record content is created by clinicians and is driven largely by intermittent and brief encounters with patients. Collecting data directly from patients in the form of patient-generated data (PGD) provides an unprecedented opportunity to capture personal, contextual patient information that can supplement clinical data and enhance patients' self-care. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is striving to implement the enterprise-wide capability to collect and use PGD in order to partner with patients in their care, improve the patient healthcare experience, and promote shared decision making. Through knowledge gained from Veterans' and healthcare teams' perspectives, VA created a taxonomy and an evolving framework on which to design and develop applications that capture and help physicians utilize PGD. Ten recommendations for effectively collecting and integrating PGD into patient care are discussed, addressing health system culture, data value, architecture, policy, data standards, clinical workflow, data visualization, and analytics and population reach.
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paper_title: Integrating Electronic Healthcare Records of Armed Forces Personnel: Developing a framework for evaluating health outcomes in England, Scotland and Wales

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BACKGROUND ::: Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs) are created to capture summaries of care and contact made to healthcare services. EHRs offer a means to analyse admissions to hospitals for epidemiological research. In the United Kingdom (UK), England, Scotland and Wales maintain separate data stores, which are administered and managed exclusively by devolved Government. This independence results in harmonisation challenges, not least lack of uniformity, making it difficult to evaluate care, diagnoses and treatment across the UK. To overcome this lack of uniformity, it is important to develop methods to integrate EHRs to provide a multi-nation dataset of health. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: To develop and describe a method which integrates the EHRs of Armed Forces personnel in England, Scotland and Wales based on variable commonality to produce a multi-nation dataset of secondary health care. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: An Armed Forces cohort was used to extract and integrate three EHR datasets, using commonality as the linkage point. This was achieved by evaluating and combining variables which shared the same characteristics. EHRs representing Accident and Emergency (A&E), Admitted Patient Care (APC) and Outpatient care were combined to create a patient-level history spanning three nations. Patient-level EHRs were examined to ascertain admission differences, common diagnoses and record completeness. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: A total of 6,336 Armed Forces personnel were matched, of which 5,460 personnel had 7,510 A&E visits, 9,316 APC episodes and 45,005 Outpatient appointments. We observed full completeness for diagnoses in APC, whereas Outpatient admissions were sparsely coded; with 88% of diagnoses coded as "Unknown/unspecified cause of morbidity". In addition, A&E records were sporadically coded; we found five coding systems for identifying reason for admission. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: At present, EHRs are designed to monitor the cost of treatment, enable administrative oversight, and are not currently suited to epidemiological research. However, only small changes may be needed to take advantage of what should be a highly cost-effective means of delivering important research for the benefit of the NHS.
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paper_title: Recording routine forensic mental health evaluations should be a standard of practice in the 21st century

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The standard of practice for forensic interviews in criminal and delinquency cases, other than those conducted as part of brief preliminary screening evaluations or in emergency situations, should include a digital recording requirement. This standard should be adopted because of the greater availability of, and familiarity with, recording technology on the part of mental health professionals, the greater use and proven effectiveness of recording in other contexts of the criminal justice system, and the improvement in court presentation and accuracy of judicial determinations involving forensic assessments that recording will provide. The experience of practitioners with recording since professional associations last studied the issue should be taken into account, as informal data suggest it has been positive. Unfortunately, the legal system is unlikely to prompt this advance without its reconsideration by the forensic mental health professions, because current constitutional jurisprudence does not require recording and effectively makes it contingent upon request by examiners. Forensic evaluators thus have a valuable opportunity to educate the legal system on the utility and importance of this key reform, and so should adopt it as a best practice.
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paper_title: Migrating to Electronic Health Record Systems: A Comparative Study between the United States and the United Kingdom

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The goal of this research is to compare the healthcare information technology (HIT)-related policies and infrastructures of two very differently-run countries: The United States (US) that owns the largest private healthcare system in the world, and the United Kingdom (UK) that has the largest public healthcare system worldwide. The paper specifically focuses on the differences between the two countries' adoption of electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems, and their efforts toward interoperability, healthcare information security and privacy, and patient safety. Both authors on the paper are professionals in the HIT field and have firsthand experience designing and implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems. As a result, they both have a real-world grasp of HIT economics and the pressure of regulatory compliance. To complement their combined expertise and insight, the authors thoroughly reviewed the peer-reviewed and grey literature on healthcare policy. The paper's findings suggest that although EHR implementation and adoption are on the rise in the US and the UK alike, both countries are facing considerable hurdles in executing their vision of establishing their respective nationwide EHR systems. To improve patient health and ensure patient safety, interoperability standards that enable seamless communication amongst differing healthcare systems and proper security and privacy regulations for data collection, data handling, and data sharing are paramount.
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paper_title: Acceptability of a decision‐support electronic health record system and its impact on diabetes care goals in South Asia: a mixed‐methods evaluation of the CARRS trial

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AIMS ::: To describe physicians' acceptance of decision-support electronic health record system and its impact on diabetes care goals among people with Type 2 diabetes. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We analysed data from participants in the Centre for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia (CARRS) trial, who received the study intervention (care coordinators and use of a decision-support electronic health record system; n=575) using generalized estimating equations to estimate the association between acceptance/rejection of decision-support system prompts and outcomes (mean changes in HbA1c , blood pressure and LDL cholesterol) considering repeated measures across all time points available. We conducted in-depth interviews with physicians to understand the benefits, challenges and value of the decision-support electronic health record system and analysed physicians' interviews using Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: At end-of-trial, participants with diabetes for whom glycaemic, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol decision-support electronic health record prompts were accepted vs rejected, experienced no reduction in HbA1c [mean difference: -0.05 mmol/mol (95% CI -0.22, 0.13); P=0.599], but statistically significant improvements were observed for systolic blood pressure [mean difference: -11.6 mmHg (95% CI -13.9, -9.3); P ≤ 0.001], diastolic blood pressure [mean difference: -5.2 mmHg (95% CI -6.5, -3.8); P ≤ 0.001] and LDL cholesterol [mean difference: -0.7 mmol/l (95% CI -0.6, -0.8); P ≤0.001], respectively. The relative advantages and compatibility of the decision-support electronic health record system with existing clinic set-ups influenced physicians' acceptance of it. Software complexities and data entry challenges could be overcome by task-sharing. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: Wider adherence to decision-support electronic health record prompts could potentially improve diabetes goal achievement, particularly when accompanied by assistance from a non-physician health worker.
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paper_title: Successful Physician Training Program for Large Scale EMR Implementation

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End-user training is an essential element of electronic medical record (EMR) implementation and frequently suffers from minimal institutional investment. In addition, discussion of successful EMR training programs for physicians is limited in the literature. The authors describe a successful physician-training program at Stanford Children’s Health as part of a large scale EMR implementation. Evaluations of classroom training, obtained at the conclusion of each class, revealed high physician satisfaction with the program. Free-text comments from learners focused on duration and timing of training, the learning environment, quality of the instructors, and specificity of training to their role or department. Based upon participant feedback and institutional experience, best practice recommendations, including physician engagement, curricular design, and assessment of proficiency and recognition, are suggested for future provider EMR training programs. The authors strongly recommend the creation of coursework to group providers by common workflow.
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paper_title: Assessing the impact of a primary care electronic medical record system in three Kenyan rural health centers

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OBJECTIVE ::: Efficient, effective health care requires rapid availability of patient information. We designed, implemented, and assessed the impact of a primary care electronic medical record (EMR) in three rural Kenyan health centers. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Local clinicians identified data required for primary care and public health reporting. We designed paper encounter forms to capture these data in adult medicine, pediatric, and antenatal clinics. Encounter form data were hand-entered into a new primary care module in an existing EMR serving onsite clinics serving patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Before subsequent visits, Summary Reports were printed containing selected patient data with reminders for needed HIV care. We assessed effects on patient flow and provider work with time-motion studies before implementation and two years later, and we surveyed providers' satisfaction with the EMR. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Between September 2008 and December 2011, 72 635 primary care patients were registered and 114 480 encounter forms were completed. During 2011, 32 193 unique patients visited primary care clinics, and encounter forms were completed for all visits. Of 1031 (3.2%) who were HIV-infected, 85% received HIV care. Patient clinic time increased from 37 to 81 min/visit after EMR implementation in one health center and 56 to 106 min/visit in the other. However, outpatient visits to both health centers increased by 85%. Three-quarters of increased time was spent waiting. Despite nearly doubling visits, there was no change in clinical officers' work patterns, but the nurses' and the clerks' patient care time decreased after EMR implementation. Providers were generally satisfied with the EMR but desired additional training. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: We successfully implemented a primary care EMR in three rural Kenyan health centers. Patient waiting time was dramatically lengthened while the nurses' and the clerks' patient care time decreased. Long-term use of EMRs in such settings will require changes in culture and workflow.
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paper_title: Barriers and facilitators to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) use in an urban slum

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OBJECTIVE ::: Rapid urbanization has led to the growth of urban slums and increased healthcare burdens for vulnerable populations. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have the potential to improve continuity of care for slum residents, but their implementation is complicated by technical and non-technical limitations. This study sought practical insights about facilitators and barriers to EMR implementation in urban slum environments. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Descriptive qualitative method was used to explore staff perceptions about a recent open-source EMR deployment in two primary care clinics in Kibera, Nairobi. Participants were interviewed using open-ended, semi-structured questions. Content analysis was used when exploring transcribed data. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Three major themes - systems, software, and social considerations - emerged from content analysis, with sustainability concerns prevailing. Although participants reported many systems (e.g., power, network, Internet, hardware, interoperability) and software (e.g., data integrity, confidentiality, function) challenges, social factors (e.g., identity management, training, use incentives) appeared the most important impediments to sustainability. ::: ::: ::: DISCUSSION ::: These findings are consistent with what others have reported, especially the importance of practical barriers to EMR deployments in resource-constrained settings. Other findings contribute unique insights about social determinants of EMR impact in slum settings, including the challenge of multiple-identity management and development of meaningful incentives to staff compliance. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: This study exposes front-line experiences with opportunities and shortcomings of EMR implementations in urban slum primary care clinics. Although the promise is great, there are a number of unique system, software and social challenges that EMR advocates should address before expecting sustainable EMR use in resource-constrained settings.
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paper_title: Computerized provider documentation: findings and implications of a multisite study of clinicians and administrators

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OBJECTIVE ::: Clinical documentation is central to the medical record and so to a range of healthcare and business processes. As electronic health record adoption expands, computerized provider documentation (CPD) is increasingly the primary means of capturing clinical documentation. Previous CPD studies have focused on particular stakeholder groups and sites, often limiting their scope and conclusions. To address this, we studied multiple stakeholder groups from multiple sites across the USA. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We conducted 14 focus groups at five Department of Veterans Affairs facilities with 129 participants (54 physicians or practitioners, 34 nurses, and 37 administrators). Investigators qualitatively analyzed resultant transcripts, developed categories linked to the data, and identified emergent themes. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Five major themes related to CPD emerged: communication and coordination; control and limitations in expressivity; information availability and reasoning support; workflow alteration and disruption; and trust and confidence concerns. The results highlight that documentation intertwines tightly with clinical and administrative workflow. Perceptions differed between the three stakeholder groups but remained consistent within groups across facilities. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: CPD has dramatically changed documentation processes, impacting clinical understanding, decision-making, and communication across multiple groups. The need for easy and rapid, yet structured and constrained, documentation often conflicts with the need for highly reliable and retrievable information to support clinical reasoning and workflows. Current CPD systems, while better than paper overall, often do not meet the needs of users, partly because they are based on an outdated 'paper-chart' paradigm. These findings should inform those implementing CPD systems now and future plans for more effective CPD systems.
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paper_title: Next-generation phenotyping of electronic health records

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The national adoption of electronic health records (EHR) promises to make an unprecedented amount of data available for clinical research, but the data are complex, inaccurate, and frequently missing, and the record reflects complex processes aside from the patient’s physiological state. We believe that the path forward requires studying the EHR as an object of interest in itself, and that new models, learning from data, and collaboration will lead to efficient use of the valuable information currently locked in health records.
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paper_title: Barriers for Adopting Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by Physicians

paper_content:

Introduction: Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are computerized medical information systems that collect, store and display patient information. They are means to create legible and organized recordings and to access clinical information about individual patients. Despite of the positive effects of the EMRs usage in medical practices, the adoption rate of such systems is still low and meets resistance from physicians. The EHRs represent an essential tool for improving both in the safety and quality of health care, though physicians must actively use these systems to accrue the benefits. This study was unsystematic-review. Aim: The aim of this study was to express barriers perceived y physicians to the adoption of the EHRs. Method of the study: This study was non-systematic reviewed which the literature was searched on barriers perceived by physicians to the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with the help of library, books, conference proceedings, data bank, and also searches engines available at Google, Google scholar. Discussion: For our searches, we employed the following keywords and their combinations: physicians, electronic medical record, electronic health record, barrier, and adoption in the searching areas of title, keywords, abstract, and full text. In this study, more than 100 articles and reports were collected and 27 of them were selected based on their relevancy. Electronic health record use requires the presence of certain user and system attributes, support from others, and numerous organizational and environment facilitators.
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paper_title: EMR-based medical knowledge representation and inference via Markov random fields and distributed representation learning

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Objective: Electronic medical records (EMRs) contain an amount of medical knowledge which can be used for clinical decision support (CDS). Our objective is a general system that can extract and represent these knowledge contained in EMRs to support three CDS tasks: test recommendation, initial diagnosis, and treatment plan recommendation, with the given condition of one patient. Methods: We extracted four kinds of medical entities from records and constructed an EMR-based medical knowledge network (EMKN), in which nodes are entities and edges reflect their co-occurrence in a single record. Three bipartite subgraphs (bi-graphs) were extracted from the EMKN to support each task. One part of the bi-graph was the given condition (e.g., symptoms), and the other was the condition to be inferred (e.g., diseases). Each bi-graph was regarded as a Markov random field to support the inference. Three lazy energy functions and one parameter-based energy function were proposed, as well as two knowledge representation learning-based energy functions, which can provide a distributed representation of medical entities. Three measures were utilized for performance evaluation. Results: On the initial diagnosis task, 80.11% of the test records identified at least one correct disease from top 10 candidates. Test and treatment recommendation results were 87.88% and 92.55%, respectively. These results altogether indicate that the proposed system outperformed the baseline methods. The distributed representation of medical entities does reflect similarity relationships in regards to knowledge level. Conclusion: Combining EMKN and MRF is an effective approach for general medical knowledge representation and inference. Different tasks, however, require designing their energy functions individually.
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paper_title: Keystrokes, Mouse Clicks, and Gazing at the Computer: How Physician Interaction with the EHR Affects Patient Participation

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Evidence is mixed regarding how physicians' use of the electronic health record (EHR) affects communication in medical encounters. To investigate whether the different ways physicians interact with the computer (mouse clicks, key strokes, and gaze) vary in their effects on patient participation in the consultation, physicians’ efforts to facilitate patient involvement, and silence. Cross-sectional, observational study of video and event recordings of primary care and specialty consultations. Thirty-two physicians and 217 patients. Predictor variables included measures of physician interaction with the EHR (mouse clicks, key strokes, gaze). Outcome measures included active patient participation (asking questions, stating preferences, expressing concerns), physician facilitation of patient involvement (partnership-building and supportive talk), and silence. Patients were less active participants in consultations in which physicians engaged in more keyboard activity (b = −0.002, SE = 0.001, p = 0.02). More physician gaze at the computer was associated with more silence in the encounter (b = 0.21, SE = 0.09, p = 0.02). Physicians’ facilitative communication, which predicted more active patient participation (b = 0.65, SE = 0.14, p < 0.001), was not related to EHR activity measures. Patients may be more reluctant to actively participate in medical encounters when physicians are more physically engaged with the computer (e.g., keyboard activity) than when their behavior is less demonstrative (e.g., gazing at EHR). Using easy to deploy communication tactics (e.g., asking about a patient’s thoughts and concerns, social conversation) while working on the computer can help physicians engage patients as well as maintain conversational flow.
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paper_title: Rural EMR adoption rates overtake those in urban areas

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Objective To assess rural-urban differences in electronic medical record (EMR) adoption among office-based physician practices in the United States. ::: ::: Methods Survey data on over 270 000 office-based physician sites (representing over 1 280 000 physicians) in the United States from 2012 was used to assess differences in EMR adoption rates among practices in rural and urban areas. Logistic regression tests for differences in the determinants of EMR adoption by geography, and a nonlinear decomposition is used to quantify how much of the rural-urban gap is due to differences in measureable characteristics (such as type of practice or affiliation with a health system). ::: ::: Results Overall EMR adoption rates were significantly higher for practices in rural areas (56%) vs those in urban areas (49%) in 2012 ( P < 0.001). Twenty-nine states had statistically significantly different adoption rates between rural and urban areas, with only two states demonstrating higher rates in urban areas. EMR adoption continues to be higher for primary care practices when compared to specialists (51% vs 49%, P < 0.001), and state-level rural-urban differences in adoption are more pronounced for specialists. The decomposition technique finds that only 14% of the rural-urban gap can be explained by differences in measurable characteristics between practices. ::: ::: Conclusions At the national level, rates of EMR adoption are higher for rural practices than for their urban counterparts, reversing earlier trends. This suggests that outreach efforts, namely the Regional Extension Centers created by the Office of the National Coordinator, have been particularly effective in increasing EMR adoption in rural areas.
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paper_title: Using Active Choice Within the Electronic Health Record to Increase Influenza Vaccination Rates

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BACKGROUND ::: Despite the benefits of influenza vaccination, each year more than half of adults in the United States do not receive it. ::: ::: ::: OBJECTIVE ::: To evaluate the association between an active choice intervention in the electronic health record (EHR) and changes in influenza vaccination rates. ::: ::: ::: DESIGN ::: Observational study. ::: ::: ::: PATIENTS ::: Adults eligible for influenza vaccination with a clinic visit at one of three internal medicine practices at the University of Pennsylvania Health System between September 2010 and March 2013. ::: ::: ::: INTERVENTION ::: The EHR confirmed patient eligibility during the clinic visit and, upon accessing the patient chart, prompted the physician and their medical assistant to actively choose to "accept" or "cancel" an order for the influenza vaccine. ::: ::: ::: MAIN MEASURES ::: Change in influenza vaccination order rates at the intervention practice compared to two control practices for the 2012-2013 flu season, comparing trends during the prior two flu seasons adjusting for time trends and patient and clinic visit characteristics. ::: ::: ::: KEY RESULTS ::: The sample (n = 45,926 patients) was 62.9% female, 35.9% white, and 54.4% black, with a mean age of 50.2 years. Trends were similar between practices during the 2 years in the pre-intervention period. Vaccination rates increased in both groups in the post-intervention year, but the intervention practice using active choice had a significantly greater increase than the control (adjusted difference-in-difference: 6.6 percentage points; 95% CI, 5.1-8.1; P < 0.001), representing a 37.3% relative increase compared to the pre-intervention period. More than 99.9% (9938/9941) of orders placed during the study period resulted in vaccination. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Active choice through the EHR was associated with a significant increase in influenza vaccination rates.
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paper_title: Using electronic health records to save money

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OBJECTIVES ::: Health information technology, especially electronic health records (EHRs), can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare providers. This study assessed the cost-savings of incorporating a list of preferred specialty care providers into the EHRs used by all primary care physicians (PCPs), accompanied by a comprehensive implementation plan. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: On January 1, 2005, all specialty clinic providers at the Israeli Defense Forces were divided into one of four financial classes based on their charges, class 1, the least expensive, being the most preferred, followed by classes 2-4. This list was incorporated into the EHRs used by all PCPs in primary care clinics. PCPs received comprehensive training. Target referral goals were determined for each class and measured for 4 years, together with the total cost of all specialist visits in the first year compared to the following years. Quality assessment (QA) scores were used as a measure of the program's effect on the quality of patient care. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: During 2005-2008, a marginally significant decline in referrals to class 1 was observed (r=-0.254, p=0.078), however a significant increase in referral rates to class 2 was observed (r=0.957, p=0.042), concurrent with a decrease in referral rates to classes 3 and 4 (r=-0.312, p=0.024). An inverse correlation was observed between year and total costs for all visits to specialists (2008 prices; r=-0.96, p=0.04), and between the mean cost of one specialist visit over the 4 years, indicating a significant reduction in real costs (2008 prices; r=-0.995, p=0.005). QA was not affected by these changes (r=0.94, p=0.016). ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: From a policy perspective, our data suggest that EHR can facilitate effective utilization of healthcare providers and decrease costs.
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paper_title: Evaluation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) Tool for Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care.

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BACKGROUND ::: Integrating behavioral health into primary care can improve care quality; however, most electronic health records are not designed to meet the needs of integrated teams. We worked with practices and behavioral health (BH) clinicians to design a suite of electronic health record tools to address these needs ("BH e-Suite"). The purpose of this article is to examine whether implementation of the BH e-Suite changes process of care, intermediate clinical outcomes, and patient experiences, and whether its use is acceptable to practice members and BH clinicians. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: We conducted a convergent mixed-methods proof-of-concept study, implementing the BH e-Suite across 6 Oregon federally qualified community health centers ("intervention clinics"). We matched intervention clinics to 6 control clinics, based on location and patient panel characteristics, to assess whether process of care (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9] and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 screening) and intermediate outcomes (PHQ-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scores) changed postimplementation. Prepost patient surveys were used to assess changes in patient experience. To elucidate factors influencing implementation, we merged quantitative findings with structured observations, surveys, and interviews with practice members. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Implementation improved process of care (PHQ-9 screening). During the course of the study, change in intermediate outcomes was not observed. Degree of BH e-Suite implementation varied: 2 clinics fully implemented, 2 partially implemented, and 2 practices did not implement at all. Initial practice conditions (eg, low resistance to change, higher capacity), process characteristics (eg, thoughtful planning), and individual characteristics (eg, high self-efficacy) were related to degree of implementation. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: Health information technology tools designed for behavioral health integration must fit the needs of clinics for the successful uptake and improvement in patient experiences. Research is needed to further assess the effectiveness of this tool in improving patient outcomes and to optimize broader dissemination of this tool among primary care clinics integrating behavioral health.
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paper_title: Implementing a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system to enable meaningful use of an EHR medication reconciliation system

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Background ::: Despite the regulatory impetus toward meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to prevent medication errors during care transitions, hospital adherence has lagged for one chief reason: low physician engagement, stemming from lack of consensus about which physician is responsible for managing a patient's medication list. In October 2016, Augusta University received a 2-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system (AU Health) to progress from "limited use" of EHR MedRec technology to "meaningful use." The hypothesis is that SKN would bring together a diverse group of practitioners, to facilitate tacit knowledge exchange on issues related to EHR MedRec, which in turn is expected to increase practitioners' engagement in addressing those issues and enable meaningful use of EHR. The specific aims are to examine: 1) user-engagement in the SKN system, and 2) associations between "SKN use" and "meaningful use" of EHR. ::: ::: ::: Methods ::: The 2-year project uses an exploratory mixed-method design and consists of three phases: 1) development; 2) SKN implementation; and 3) analysis. Phase 1, completed in May 2017, sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec from practitioners directly involved in the MedRec process. This process facilitated development of a "Reporting Tool" on issues related to EHR MedRec, which, along with an existing "SKN/Discussion Tool," was integrated into the EHR at AU Health. Phase 2 (launched in June 2017) involves implementing the EHR-integrated SKN system over a 52-week period in inpatient and outpatient medicine units. ::: ::: ::: Discussion ::: The prospective implementation design is expected to generate context-sensitive strategies for meaningful use and successful implementation of EHR MedRec and thereby make substantial contributions to the patient safety and risk management literature. From a health care policy perspective, if the hypothesis holds, federal vendors could be encouraged to incorporate SKN features into EHR systems.
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paper_title: Barriers and facilitators to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) use in an urban slum

paper_content:

OBJECTIVE ::: Rapid urbanization has led to the growth of urban slums and increased healthcare burdens for vulnerable populations. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have the potential to improve continuity of care for slum residents, but their implementation is complicated by technical and non-technical limitations. This study sought practical insights about facilitators and barriers to EMR implementation in urban slum environments. ::: ::: ::: METHOD ::: Descriptive qualitative method was used to explore staff perceptions about a recent open-source EMR deployment in two primary care clinics in Kibera, Nairobi. Participants were interviewed using open-ended, semi-structured questions. Content analysis was used when exploring transcribed data. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Three major themes - systems, software, and social considerations - emerged from content analysis, with sustainability concerns prevailing. Although participants reported many systems (e.g., power, network, Internet, hardware, interoperability) and software (e.g., data integrity, confidentiality, function) challenges, social factors (e.g., identity management, training, use incentives) appeared the most important impediments to sustainability. ::: ::: ::: DISCUSSION ::: These findings are consistent with what others have reported, especially the importance of practical barriers to EMR deployments in resource-constrained settings. Other findings contribute unique insights about social determinants of EMR impact in slum settings, including the challenge of multiple-identity management and development of meaningful incentives to staff compliance. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: This study exposes front-line experiences with opportunities and shortcomings of EMR implementations in urban slum primary care clinics. Although the promise is great, there are a number of unique system, software and social challenges that EMR advocates should address before expecting sustainable EMR use in resource-constrained settings.
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paper_title: Information standards for recording alcohol use in electronic health records: findings from a national consultation

paper_content:

BACKGROUND ::: Alcohol misuse is an important cause of premature disability and death. While clinicians are recommended to ask patients about alcohol use and provide brief interventions and specialist referral, this is poorly implemented in routine practice. We undertook a national consultation to ascertain the appropriateness of proposed standards for recording information about alcohol use in electronic health records (EHRs) in the UK and to identify potential barriers and facilitators to their implementation in practice. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: A wide range of stakeholders in the UK were consulted about the appropriateness of proposed information standards for recording alcohol use in EHRs via a multi-disciplinary stakeholder workshop and online survey. Responses to the survey were thematically analysed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: Thirty-one stakeholders participated in the workshop and 100 in the online survey. This included patients and carers, healthcare professionals, researchers, public health specialists, informaticians, and clinical information system suppliers. There was broad consensus that the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and AUDIT-Consumption (AUDIT-C) questionnaires were appropriate standards for recording alcohol use in EHRs but that the standards should also address interventions for alcohol misuse. Stakeholders reported a number of factors that might influence implementation of the standards, including having clear care pathways and an implementation guide, sharing information about alcohol use between health service providers, adequately resourcing the implementation process, integrating alcohol screening with existing clinical pathways, having good clinical information systems and IT infrastructure, providing financial incentives, having sufficient training for healthcare workers, and clinical leadership and engagement. Implementation of the standards would need to ensure patients are not stigmatised and that patient confidentiality is robustly maintained. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSIONS ::: A wide range of stakeholders agreed that use of AUDIT-C and AUDIT are appropriate standards for recording alcohol use in EHRs in addition to recording interventions for alcohol misuse. The findings of this consultation will be used to develop an appropriate information model and implementation guide. Further research is needed to pilot the standards in primary and secondary care.
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Title: The role of medical data in efficient patient care delivery: a review

Section 1: Background
Description 1: Write about the necessity of efficient medical data for evidence-based health care interventions and the transition from paper-based records (PBR) to electronic health records (EHR).

Section 2: Methods
Description 2: Describe the keywords used for research, the databases accessed, and the search process including the screening and selection of relevant materials for the review.

Section 3: Result
Description 3: Summarize the findings from the selected publications about the implementation and impact of EHR on patient care quality.

Section 4: Patient health care data management processes 
Description 4: Discuss varied data recording practices, data protection laws, confidentiality, and medical data retention policies in health care institutions.

Section 5: The benefits of EHR implementation
Description 5: Explain how EHR enhances quality, safety, efficiency, and financial returns in patient care, illustrating the positive outcomes observed in the US and UK health care systems.

Section 6: The challenges of implementing EHR
Description 6: Outline the concerns, barriers, and adoption rates related to EHR implementation, particularly in developing countries, considering behavioral, technical, legal, sociodemographic, and practice-related factors.

Section 7: Healthcare service at a distance
Description 7: Examine the role of electronic communication applications in remote health care services, the reduction of medical errors, and the importance of efficient medical data processing and storage.

Section 8: The future perspectives
Description 8: Discuss the promising areas for EHR implementation, stakeholder benefits, decision-support tools, and the need for social knowledge networking features and addressing behavioral aspects in patient care.

Section 9: Conclusion
Description 9: Summarize the importance of efficient medical data processing and EHR implementation, emphasizing the benefits of decision-support tools, confidentiality, and timely health care data transfer for quality patient care.