Electronic Clinical Data Research Articles

Registros de enfermería: convencional frente a informatizado. Unidad de cuidados críticos

In these recent years, electronic clinical data systems have been incorporated into the daily nursing work for the use of records in the hospitalization units. Between 2001 and 2002, the computer program that has presently become the work tool in the Critical Unit I was designed. This project aims to know the opinion of the nursing staff on the use of the computerized record versus the previous pen and paper. The surveys designed were filled out by 90.5% of the unit staff and it was found that for nursing group, the computerized record is a better work system than the pen and paper. Further, the computerized record is characterized by being more complete, by making it possible to better gather the work and by adjusting more reliably to the nursing work. In conclusion, we would say that the perception of nursing after the initiation of the clinical record computerized system is that it has improved versus the pen-paper. The perception of the time aimed at filling out the records is greater, although paradoxically, it generates more time for the patient's care according to the staff opinion. Even so, it is considered to be a good work system.

Putting outcomes into practice in physician offices.

Implementing outcomes in physician offices is a challenging area. Unlike hospitals, clinics typically have much fewer support staff and resources, electronic clinical data is difficult to access, and physician resistance may be significant. Yet, accountability for outcomes is coming to physician offices. In all outcome efforts, the key steps for guideline implementation are awareness, agreement, decision to adopt, and commitment to adherence. This article describes outcome management efforts in a 15-clinic medical group in the areas of diabetes, asthma, preventive health, pneumonia, heart failure, and patient satisfaction. Implementation strategies, barriers, impact, and outcome data results are described.

Controlling the Increased Complexity of Electronic Clinical data Collection and Management Technology by data Modeling and System Engineering

Economic realities are forcing pharmaceutical research and development to become more productive. A lot of hope is put on new information technologies, including electronic data capture. However, adding new technologies to existing legacy systems bears the risk of creating informational chaos. This can be avoided by system engineering and data modeling, which focus on the technology independent essence of a system. Computer-aided system engineering tools translate logical models into real databases. As the aeronautical industry proves, rigorous computer-assisted system engineering and modeling is the way to manage highly complex systems successfully. The pharmaceutical industry has yet to make serious contributions to the planning and designing of complex systems.

Predictors and impact of atrial fibrillation after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting.

Although an extensive number of studies have attempted to identify predictors of new-onset atrial fibrillation (AFIB) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), a strong predictive model does not exist. Prior studies have included patients recruited from multiple centers with variant AFIB prevalence rates and those who underwent CABG in combination with other surgical procedures. Also, most studies have focused on pre- and perioperative characteristics, with less attention given to the initial postoperative period. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively examine pre-, peri-, and postoperative characteristics that might predict new-onset AFIB in a large sample of patients undergoing isolated CABG in a single medical center, utilizing data readily available to clinicians in electronic data repositories. In addition, length of stay and selected postoperative complications and disposition were compared in patients with AFIB and no AFIB. Retrospective, comparative survey. University-affiliated tertiary care hospital. Patients with new-onset AFIB who underwent isolated standard CABG or minimally invasive direct vision coronary artery bypass were identified from an electronic clinical data repository. None. The prevalence of AFIB in the total sample (n = 814) was 31.9%. Predictors of AFIB included age (p =.0004), number of vessels bypassed (p =.013), vessel location (diagonal [p <.003] or posterior descending artery [p <.001]), and net fluid balance on the operative day (p =.015). Forward stepwise regression analysis produced a model that correctly predicted AFIB in only 24% of cases, with age (14%) and body surface area (9%) providing the most prediction. The incidence of embolic stroke was higher in AFIB (n = 8) vs. no AFIB (n = 4) patients, but stroke preceded AFIB onset in seven of eight cases. Subjects with AFIB had a longer stay (p =.0004), more intensive care unit readmissions (p =.0004), and required more assistance at hospital discharge (p =.017). Despite attempts to examine comprehensively predictors of new-onset AFIB, we were unable to identify a robust predictive model. Our findings, in combination with prior work, imply that it may not be feasible to predict the development of new-onset AFIB after CABG using data readily available to the bedside clinician. In this sample, stroke was uncommon and, when it occurred, preceded AFIB in all but one case. As anticipated, AFIB increased length of stay, and patients with this complication required more assistance at discharge.

Accurate case finding using linked electronic clinical and administrative data at a children's hospital

To link hospital administrative data and an electronic medical record at a children's hospital in order to identify children with cancer admitted for fever and neutropenia. Hospital administrative data concerning 13,374 inpatient and outpatient encounters were validated against and linked to clinical data stored in an electronic medical record. Queries of the linked databases identified children with fever and neutropenia. Sensitivity and specificity of the experimental case-finding strategy were determined and compared to a control case-finding strategy utilizing administrative data alone. Linking of the clinical record to the administrative record was achieved in 233 (99%) of the 235 records. Of 1680 data elements reviewed from the administrative data that were also potentially available in the clinical data system, 1679 (99.9%) were verified in the electronic medical record. The experimental strategy for case finding had a sensitivity of 73.1% (95% CI: 58.1, 88.3), specificity 99.6% (95% CI: 99.1, 100). If only administrative data such as diagnosis-related group and hospital service were used for case finding, both the sensitivity (P < 0.01) and specificity (P < 0.01) were significantly lower. Linking a children's hospital administrative data system with clinical data is feasible and can be utilized for specific case finding for a common and costly condition in children.

Automated tuberculosis detection.

To measure the accuracy of automated tuberculosis case detection. An inner-city medical center. An electronic medical record and a clinical event monitor with a natural language processor were used to detect tuberculosis cases according to Centers for Disease Control criteria. Cases identified by the automated system were compared to the local health department's tuberculosis registry, and positive predictive value and sensitivity were calculated. The best automated rule was based on tuberculosis cultures; it had a sensitivity of .89 (95% CI.75-.96) and a positive predictive value of .96 (.89-.99). All other rules had a positive predictive value less than .20. A rule based on chest radiographs had a sensitivity of .41 (.26-.57) and a positive predictive value of .03 (.02-.05), and rule the represented the overall Centers for Disease Control criteria had a sensitivity of .91 (.78-.97) and a positive predictive value of .15 (.12-.18). The culture-based rule was the most useful rule for automated case reporting to the health department, and the chest radiograph-based rule was the most useful rule for improving tuberculosis respiratory isolation compliance. Automated tuberculosis case detection is feasible and useful, although the predictive value of most of the clinical rules was low. The usefulness of an individual rule depends on the context in which it is used. The major challenge facing automated detection is the availability and accuracy of electronic clinical data.

Clinical applications of picture archival and communications systems in radiation oncology

Picture archival and communications systems (PACS) for radiation oncology present an entirely different set of constraints and requirements from systems developed for diagnostic imaging. PACS for radiation oncology aid in organizing the complex, interrelated functions of radiation oncology. Integration of PACS with clinical data management systems will provide the backbone for the comprehensive computer system that has long been sought in radiation oncology. Simulation, geometric and dosimetric treatment planning, field shaping, set-up, verification, and delivery are now all observable and/or controllable from computer systems that can be interfaced with the departmental PACS. Costs are substantially lower than with diagnostic PACS because the systems can be based on desktop computers and the image resolution requirements are not as stringent. Each PACS user will have more information more easily available than under current systems of organization. Vendor support of digital image communications (DICOM) protocols will enable full integration of equipment regardless of manufacturer. Potential increased in productivity will be realized if the systems for handling and evaluating images are fully automated and provide the users with analytic tools that enhance the utility of systems such as electronic portal imagers, multileaf collimators, and clinical data management systems. this report describes our efforts in producing such a system.

A Process for Obtaining Patient Clinical Information in the Ambulatory Setting

The Wisconsin Ambulatory Review Project is the most extensive study to date with the goal of describing in detail the nature of care in the ambulatory setting. To assist in the description, a detailed, electronic clinical data base was created from a random sample of nonstandard, often handwritten, ambulatory patient medical records. This paper describes the set of processes that enabled significant clinical data to be collected, organized, and made available to researchers, including the collection of a representative sample of patient medical records, the creation of a detailed clinical vocabulary, the implementation of the vocabulary as a data abstraction tool, the collection and aggregation of distributed electronic data files, and the assessment of the efficiency of the abstraction process. The integration of all of these processes has produced a working system that has successfully been deployed as a pilot study across a seven-state area.

A63 Collection of electronic clinical data from UK community doctors

A63 Collection of electronic clinical data from UK community doctors