Computer-based reminder system effectively impacts physician documentation (original) (raw)

Use of Electronic Medical Record–Enhanced Checklist and Electronic Dashboard to Decrease CLABSIs

Pediatrics, 2014

OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that a checklist enhanced by the electronic medical record and a unit-wide dashboard would improve compliance with an evidence-based, pediatric-specific catheter care bundle and decrease central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). METHODS: We performed a cohort study with historical controls that included all patients with a central venous catheter in a 24-bed PICU in an academic children' s hospital. Postintervention CLABSI rates, compliance with bundle elements, and staff perceptions of communication were evaluated and compared with preintervention data. RESULTS: CLABSI rates decreased from 2.6 CLABSIs per 1000 line-days before intervention to 0.7 CLABSIs per 1000 line-days after intervention. Analysis of specific bundle elements demonstrated increased daily documentation of line necessity from 30% to 73% (P , .001), increased compliance with dressing changes from 87% to 90% (P = .003), increased compliance with cap changes from 87% to 93% (P , .001), increased compliance with port needle changes from 69% to 95% (P , .001), but decreased compliance with insertion bundle documentation from 67% to 62% (P = .001). Changes in the care plan were made during review of the electronic medical record checklist on 39% of patient rounds episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Use of an electronic medical record-enhanced CLABSI prevention checklist coupled with a unit-wide real-time display of adherence was associated with increased compliance with evidencebased catheter care and sustained decrease in CLABSI rates. These data underscore the potential for computerized interventions to promote compliance with proven best practices and prevent patient harm.

Comparison of extent of use, information accuracy, and functions for manual and electronic patient status boards

International Journal of …, 2010

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately. This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.

An ED scribe program is able to improve throughput time and patient satisfaction

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2014

At our institution, we previously described the detrimental effect of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) on throughput time and patient satisfaction (Ann of Emer Med, Vol 56, P S83-S84). To address these quality metrics, we conducted a pilot program using scribes in the emergency department (ED). Methods: We conducted a before-and-after study of ED throughput at our 320-bed suburban community hospital with a census of 70 000 annual visits. Our primary outcome measure was the effect of scribes on ED throughput as measured by the effect on (1) door-to-room time; (2) room-to-doc time; (3) door-to-doc time; (4) doc-to-dispo time; and (5) length of stay for discharged/admitted patients, between pre-CPOE and post-CPOE cohorts. Our secondary outcome measure was patient satisfaction as provided by Press Ganey surveys. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and means were compared using a standard t test. Results: Patient data from a total of 11729 patients in the before cohort were compared with data from 12609 patients in the after cohort. Despite a 7.5 % increase in volume between the post-CPOE and post-scribe cohorts, all throughput metrics improved in the post-scribe cohort. This process improved the overall door-to-doc time to 61 minutes in the after cohort from 74 minutes in the before cohort. Furthermore, patient and physician satisfaction was improved from the 58th and 62nd percentile to 75th and 92nd percentile, respectively.

Duly noted: Lessons from a two-site intervention to assess and improve the quality of clinical documentation in the electronic health record

Applied clinical informatics, 2016

Communication errors are identified as a root cause contributing to a majority of sentinel events. The clinical note is a cornerstone of physician communication, yet there are few published interventions on teaching note writing in the electronic health record (EHR). This is a prospective, two-site, quality improvement project to assess and improve the quality of clinical documentation in the EHR using a validated assessment tool. Internal Medicine (IM) residents at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UK) and Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine (MMC) received one of two interventions during an inpatient ward month: either a lecture, or a lecture and individual feedback on progress notes. A third group of residents in each program served as control. Notes were evaluated with the Physician Documentation Quality Instrument 9 (PDQI-9). Due to a significant difference in baseline PDQI-9 scores at MMC, the sites were not combined. Of 75 residents at t...

The effect of electronic health record software design on resident documentation and compliance with evidence-based medicine

PLOS ONE

This study aimed to determine the role of electronic health record software in resident education by evaluating documentation of 30 elements extracted from the American Academy of Ophthalmology Dry Eye Syndrome Preferred Practice Pattern. The Kresge Eye Institute transitioned to using electronic health record software in June 2013. We evaluated the charts of 331 patients examined in the resident ophthalmology clinic between September 1, 2011, and March 31, 2014, for an initial evaluation for dry eye syndrome. We compared documentation rates for the 30 evidence-based elements between electronic health record chart note templates among the ophthalmology residents. Overall, significant changes in documentation occurred when transitioning to a new version of the electronic health record software with average compliance ranging from 67.4% to 73.6% (p < 0.0005). Electronic Health Record A had high compliance (>90%) in 13 elements while Electronic Health Record B had high compliance (>90%) in 11 elements. The presence of dialog boxes was responsible for significant changes in documentation of adnexa, puncta, proptosis, skin examination, contact lens wear, and smoking exposure. Significant differences in documentation were correlated with electronic health record template design rather than individual resident or residents' year in training. Our results show that electronic health record template design influences documentation across all resident years. Decreased documentation likely results from "mouse click fatigue" as residents had to access multiple dialog boxes to complete documentation. These findings highlight the importance of EHR template design to improve resident documentation and integration of evidence-based medicine into their clinical notes.

Concordance Between Electronic Clinical Documentation and Physicians’ Observed Behavior

JAMA Network Open, 2019

IMPORTANCE Following the adoption of electronic health records into a regulatory environment designed for paper records, there has been little investigation into the accuracy of physician documentation. OBJECTIVE To quantify the percentage of emergency physician documentation of the review of systems (ROS) and physical examination (PE) that observers can confirm. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This case series took place at emergency departments in 2 academic medical centers between 2016 and 2018. Participants' patient encounters were observed to compare real-time performance with clinical documentation. EXPOSURES Resident physicians were shadowed by trained observers for 20 encounters (10 encounters per physician per site) to obtain real-time observational data; associated electronic health record data were subsequently reviewed. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Number of confirmed ROS systems (range, 0-14) divided by the number of documented ROS systems (range, 0-14), and number of confirmed PE systems (range, 0-14) divided by the number of documented PE systems (range, 0-14). RESULTS The final study cohort included 9 licensed emergency medicine residents who evaluated a total of 180 patients (mean [SD] age, 48.7 [20.0] years; 91 [50.5%] women). For ROS, physicians documented a median (interquartile range [IQR]) of 14 (8-14) systems, while audio recordings confirmed a median (IQR) of 5 (3-6) systems. Overall, 755 of 1961 documented ROS systems (38.5%) were confirmed by audio recording data. For PE, resident physicians documented a median (IQR) of 8 (7-9) verifiable systems, while observers confirmed a median (IQR) of 5.5 (3-6) systems. Overall, 760 of 1429 verifiable documented PE systems (53.2%) were confirmed by concurrent observation. Interrater reliability for rating of ROS and PE was more than 90% for all measures. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this study of 9 licensed year emergency medicine residents, there were inconsistencies between the documentation of ROS and PE findings in the electronic health record and observational reports. These findings raise the possibility that some documentation may not accurately represent physician actions. Further studies should be undertaken to determine whether this occurrence is widespread. However, because such studies are unlikely to be performed owing to institution-level barriers that exist nationwide, payers should consider removing financial incentives to generate lengthy documentation.