Protection of Privacy and Confidentiality: Unique law protects patient records in a multistate psychiatric information system

SummaryBackground: A full-text search tool was introduced into the daily practice of Léon Bérard Center (France), a health care facility devoted to treatment of cancer. This tool was integrated into the hospital information system by the IT department having been granted full autonomy to improve the system.Objectives: To describe the development and various uses of a tool for full-text search of computerized patient records.Methods: The technology is based on Solr, an open-source search engine. It is a web-based application that processes HTTP requests and returns HTTP responses. A data processing pipeline that retrieves data from different repositories, normalizes, cleans and publishes it to Solr, was integrated in the information system of the Leon Bérard center. The IT department developed also user interfaces to allow users to access the search engine within the computerized medical record of the patient.Results: From January to May 2013, 500 queries were launched per month by an average of 140 different users. Several usages of the tool were described, as follows: medical management of patients, medical research, and improving the traceability of medical care in medical records. The sensitivity of the tool for detecting the medical records of patients diagnosed with both breast cancer and diabetes was 83.0%, and its positive predictive value was 48.7% (gold standard: manual screening by a clinical research assistant).Conclusion: The project demonstrates that the introduction of full-text-search tools allowed practitioners to use unstructured medical information for various purposes.Citation: Biron P; Metzger MH; Pezet C; Sebban C; Barthuet E; Durand T. An information retrieval system for computerized patient records in the context of a daily hospital practice: the example of the Léon Bérard Cancer Center (France)Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 191–205http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-08-CR-0065

Download Full-text

Digital Imaging and Electronic Patient Records in Pathology Using an Integrated Department Information System with PACS

Pathology - Research and Practice ◽

10.1078/0344-0338-00320 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 198 (10) ◽

pp. 679-684 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Thomas Kalinski ◽

Harald Hofmann ◽

Dagmar-Sybilla Franke ◽

Albert Roessner

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Digital Imaging ◽

Patient Records ◽

Electronic Patient Records

Download Full-text

The hospital information system — integrated patient records

Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine ◽

10.1016/0169-2607(95)01652-a ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 48 (1-2) ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

J.-R. Scherrer

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Hospital Information System ◽

Patient Records

Download Full-text

Identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care by making use of the general practice information system: the Surprise Question versus the SPICT

Family Practice ◽

10.1093/fampra/cmaa049 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (5) ◽

pp. 641-647

Author(s):

Matthijs P S van Wijmen ◽

Bart P M Schweitzer ◽

H R Pasman ◽

Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Information System ◽

General Practice ◽

Cohort Study ◽

Patient Records ◽

Electronic Patient Records ◽

General Practices ◽

Surprise Question ◽

First Time ◽

Digital Search

Abstract Objective We compared the performance of two tools to help general practitioners (GPs) identify patients in need of palliative care: the Surprise Question (SQ) and the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT). Methods Prospective cohort study in two general practices in the Netherlands with a size of 3640 patients. At the start of the study the GPs selected patients by heart using the SQ. The SPICT was translated into a digital search in electronic patient records. The GPs then selected patients from the list thus created. Afterwards the GPs were interviewed about their experiences. The following year a record was kept of all the patients deceased in both practices. We analysed the characteristics of the patients selected and the deceased. We calculated the performance characteristics concerning predicting 1-year mortality. Results The sensitivity of the SQ was 50%, of the SPICT 57%; the specificity 99% and 98%. When analysing the deceased (n = 36), 10 died relatively suddenly and arguably could not be identified. Leaving out these 10, the sensitivity of the SQ became 69%, of the SPICT 81%. The GPs found the performance of the digital search quite time consuming. Conclusion The SPICT seems to be better in identifying patients in need of palliative care than the SQ. It is also more time consuming than the SQ. However, as the digital search can be performed more easily after it has been done for the first time, initial investments can repay themselves.

Download Full-text