scholarly journals Essential activities for electronic health record safety: A qualitative study

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 3140-3151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan S Ash ◽  
Hardeep Singh ◽  
Adam Wright ◽  
Dian Chase ◽  
Dean F Sittig
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
Clinical Systems

Electronic health record-caused safety risks are an unintended consequence of the implementation of clinical systems. To identify activities essential to assuring that the electronic health record is managed and used safely, we used the Rapid Assessment Process, a collection of qualitative methods. A multidisciplinary team conducted visits to five healthcare sites to learn about best practices. Although titles and roles were very different across sites, certain tasks considered necessary by our subjects were remarkably similar. We identified 10 groups of activities/tasks in three major areas. Area A, decision-making activities, included overseeing, planning, and reviewing to assure electronic health record safety. Area B, organizational learning activities, involved monitoring, testing, analyzing, and reporting. Finally, Area C, user-related activities, included training, communication, and building clinical decision support. To minimize electronic health record-related patient safety risks, leaders in healthcare organizations should ensure that these essential activities are performed.

scholarly journals Safe use of the EHR by medical scribes: a qualitative study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan S Ash ◽  
Sky Corby ◽  
Vishnu Mohan ◽  
Nicholas Solberg ◽  
James Becton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Clinical Training ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
The Us ◽  
Medical Scribes

Abstract Objective Hiring medical scribes to document in the electronic health record (EHR) on behalf of providers could pose patient safety risks because scribes often have no clinical training. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of scribes on patient safety. This included identification of best practices to assure that scribe use of the EHR is not a patient safety risk. Materials and Methods Using a sociotechnical framework and the Rapid Assessment Process, we conducted ethnographic data gathering at 5 purposively selected sites. Data were analyzed using a grounded inductive/hermeneutic approach. Results We conducted site visits at 12 clinics and emergency departments within 5 organizations in the US between 2017 and 2019. We did 76 interviews with 81 people and spent 80 person-hours observing scribes working with providers. Interviewees believe and observations indicate that scribes decrease patient safety risks. Analysis of the data yielded 12 themes within a 4-dimension sociotechnical framework. Results about the “technical” dimension indicated that the EHR is not considered overly problematic by either scribes or providers. The “environmental” dimension included the changing scribe industry and need for standards. Within the “personal” dimension, themes included the need for provider diligence and training when using scribes. Finally, the “organizational” dimension highlighted the positive effect scribes have on documentation efficiency, quality, and safety. Conclusion Participants perceived risks related to the EHR can be less with scribes. If healthcare organizations and scribe companies follow best practices and if providers as well as scribes receive training, safety can actually improve.

Proposing an Intelligent Cloud-Based Electronic Health Record System

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Khansa ◽  
Jonathan Forcade ◽  
Girivaraprasad Nambari ◽  
Saravanan Parasuraman ◽  
Patrick Cox
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Private Patient ◽  
Record System ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
Reducing Costs

With the aging United States population, healthcare costs have considerably increased and are expected to keep rising in the foreseeable future. In this paper, the authors propose an intelligent cloud-based electronic health record (ICEHR) system that has the potential to reduce medical errors and improve patients’ quality of life, in addition to reducing costs and increasing the productivity of healthcare organizations. They developed a set of best practices that encompass end-user policies and regulations, identity and access management, network resilience and service level agreements, advanced computational power, “Big Data” mining abilities, and other operational/managerial controls that are meant to improve the privacy and security of the ICEHR, and make it inherently compliant to healthcare regulations. These best practices serve as a framework that offers a single interconnection agreement between the cloud host and healthcare entities, and streamlines access to private patient information based on a unified set of access principles.

scholarly journals Error by omission: A lack of integration across implementation and use in structuring health information technology contracts

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 2202-2212
Author(s):  
Thomas R Martin ◽  
Hamlet Gasoyan ◽  
David J Wierz
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Health Information Technology ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Electronic Health

Limited work identifies best practices to assess functional electronic health record system performance when contracting for health information technology and information technology–related services. Without a set of best practices or specific contracting provisions to assess the performance of electronic health record systems, healthcare providers will not be able to fully leverage the performance of these systems to reduce the cost of care and improve patient outcomes. This work seeks to provide operational considerations and best practices when forming teams to negotiate health information technology system specifications in contracts. To better understand the contracting and performance assessment process, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of eligible healthcare personnel. Our study highlights a potential disconnect between respondents setting contract structure, knowledge of ongoing functional performance assessments in practice, and the relationship to those with direct system involvement to avoid potential legal risk.

scholarly journals Dissemination of child abuse clinical decision support: Moving beyond a single electronic health record

2021 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
pp. 104349
Author(s):  
Thomas McGinn ◽  
David A. Feldstein ◽  
Isabel Barata ◽  
Emily Heineman ◽  
Joshua Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Electronic Health

Transitioning from one Electronic Health Record (EHR) to Another: A Narrative Literature Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 489-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. Saleem ◽  
Jennifer Herout
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Health Care Organization ◽  
Data Migration ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Electronic Health

This paper reports the results of a literature review of health care organizations that have transitioned from one electronic health record (EHR) to another. Ten different EHR to EHR transitions are documented in the academic literature. In eight of the 10 transitions, the health care organization transitioned to Epic, a commercial EHR which is dominating the market for large and medium hospitals and health care systems. The focus of the articles reviewed falls into two main categories: (1) data migration from the old to new EHR and (2) implementation of the new EHR as it relates to patient safety, provider satisfaction, and other measures pre-and post-transition. Several conclusions and recommendations are derived from this review of the literature, which may be informative for healthcare organizations preparing to replace an existing EHR. These recommendations are likely broadly relevant to EHR to EHR transitions, regardless of the new EHR vendor.

scholarly journals Developing Clinical Decision Support within a Commercial Electronic Health Record System to Improve Antimicrobial Prescribing in the Neonatal ICU

2014 ◽  
Vol 05 (02) ◽  
pp. 368-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Cato ◽  
B. Sheehan ◽  
S. Patel ◽  
J. Duchon ◽  
P. DeLaMora ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Electronic Health Record System ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Record System ◽  
Antimicrobial Prescribing ◽  
Neonatal Icu ◽  
Electronic Health

SummaryObjective: To develop and implement a clinical decision support (CDS) tool to improve antibiotic prescribing in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and to evaluate user acceptance of the CDS tool.Methods: Following sociotechnical analysis of NICU prescribing processes, a CDS tool for empiric and targeted antimicrobial therapy for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) was developed and incorporated into a commercial electronic health record (EHR) in two NICUs. User logs were reviewed and NICU prescribers were surveyed for their perceptions of the CDS tool.Results: The CDS tool aggregated selected laboratory results, including culture results, to make treatment recommendations for common clinical scenarios. From July 2010 to May 2012, 1,303 CDS activations for 452 patients occurred representing 22% of patients prescribed antibiotics during this period. While NICU clinicians viewed two culture results per tool activation, prescribing recommendations were viewed during only 15% of activations. Most (63%) survey respondents were aware of the CDS tool, but fewer (37%) used it during their most recent NICU rotation. Respondents considered the most useful features to be summarized culture results (43%) and antibiotic recommendations (48%).Discussion: During the study period, the CDS tool functionality was hindered by EHR upgrades, implementation of a new laboratory information system, and changes to antimicrobial testing methodologies. Loss of functionality may have reduced viewing antibiotic recommendations. In contrast, viewing culture results was frequently performed, likely because this feature was perceived as useful and functionality was preserved.Conclusion: To improve CDS tool visibility and usefulness, we recommend early user and information technology team involvement which would facilitate use and mitigate implementation challenges.Citation: Hum RS, Cato K, Sheehan B, Patel S, Duchon J, DeLaMora P, Ferng YH, Graham P, Vawdrey DK, Perlman J, Larson E, Saiman L. Developing clinical decision support within a commercial electronic health record system to improve antimicrobial prescribing in the neonatal ICU. Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 368–387 http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-09-RA-0069

scholarly journals Integrating pharmacogenetic information and clinical decision support into the electronic health record

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 522-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry R Goldspiel ◽  
Willy A Flegel ◽  
Gary DiPatrizio ◽  
Tristan Sissung ◽  
Sharon D Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Electronic Health

scholarly journals Clinical decision support alert malfunctions: analysis and empirically derived taxonomy

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 496-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Wright ◽  
Angela Ai ◽  
Joan Ash ◽  
Jane F Wiesen ◽  
Thu-Trang T Hickman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Electronic Health

Abstract Objective To develop an empirically derived taxonomy of clinical decision support (CDS) alert malfunctions. Materials and Methods We identified CDS alert malfunctions using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods: (1) site visits with interviews of chief medical informatics officers, CDS developers, clinical leaders, and CDS end users; (2) surveys of chief medical informatics officers; (3) analysis of CDS firing rates; and (4) analysis of CDS overrides. We used a multi-round, manual, iterative card sort to develop a multi-axial, empirically derived taxonomy of CDS malfunctions. Results We analyzed 68 CDS alert malfunction cases from 14 sites across the United States with diverse electronic health record systems. Four primary axes emerged: the cause of the malfunction, its mode of discovery, when it began, and how it affected rule firing. Build errors, conceptualization errors, and the introduction of new concepts or terms were the most frequent causes. User reports were the predominant mode of discovery. Many malfunctions within our database caused rules to fire for patients for whom they should not have (false positives), but the reverse (false negatives) was also common. Discussion Across organizations and electronic health record systems, similar malfunction patterns recurred. Challenges included updates to code sets and values, software issues at the time of system upgrades, difficulties with migration of CDS content between computing environments, and the challenge of correctly conceptualizing and building CDS. Conclusion CDS alert malfunctions are frequent. The empirically derived taxonomy formalizes the common recurring issues that cause these malfunctions, helping CDS developers anticipate and prevent CDS malfunctions before they occur or detect and resolve them expediently.

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