Electronic Health Record Deployment Techniques - CHCF.org

just a short one - this is a recent best practice online resource how to implement EHRs.....as one out of many influencing factors, how EHR/EMRs will be used to help improving care........

Electronic Health Record Deployment Techniques - CHCF.org

Whats wrong with EHRs/EMRs? Stanford researchers find EHRs don't boost care quality

There was a big buzz last week with the publication online of a paper by a highly recognised scientific journal, the Archives of Internal Medicine, making the bold statement "Our findings indicate no consistent association between EHRs and CDS and better quality. These results raise concerns about the ability of health information technology to fundamentally alter outpatient care quality."  
(Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support Systems. Impact on National Ambulatory Care Quality, Arch Intern Med. Published online January 24, 2011. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.527)
"There's a lot of enthusiasm and money being invested in electronic health records," said senior author Dr. Randall Stafford said in a news release. "It makes sense, but on the other hand it's an unproven proposition. When the federal government decides to invest in healthcare technology because it will improve the quality of care, that's not based on evidence. That's a presumption."

Wow. All the effort, all the money spent - wasted?

I don't think, that's true. I'm of the firm belief that patient related information being made available to healthcare professionals is one of the determinants impacting a patient's outcome. It's a matter of how appropriate this information is when being made accessible, how timely, and in what context. And how well the doctor is acquainted with any system, including an ordinary old-fashioned paper record.

And I'm excited, too. As I'm a big fan of evidence-based medicine, I really appreciate the effort being made to investigate any effects on patient related outcome - not only related to drugs, therapies, or medical devices. So, again, I really like this controversial paper. It has been the fifth of its kind in two years, questioning the positive effect of Electronic Medical Records, and guess what? You can find another dozen papers published recently, and as scientific as the others, which provided positive evidence that EMRs improve patent care and patient safety.

Just to finish with a great statement I got from William Hersh's blog: "The results of this study are a legitimate addition to the evidence base of informatics and cannot be dismissed out of hand. However, these findings must take their place in the proper context of all research on HIT. If nothing else, this study highlights the need for more and better research to truly identify where HIT helps, has no impact, or outright harms patients."