A cancer care electronic medical record highly integrated into clinicians' workflow: users' attitudes pre-post implementation

The implementation of a multidisciplinary, electronic health record embedded care pathway to improve structured data recording and decrease electronic health record burden

INTRODUCTION

Theoretically, the added value of electronic health records (EHRs) is extensive. Reusable data capture in EHRs could lead to major improvements in quality measurement, scientific research, and decision support. To achieve these goals, structured and standardized recording of healthcare data is a prerequisite. However, time spent on EHRs by physicians is already high. This study evaluated the effect of implementing an EHR embedded care pathway with structured data recording on the EHR burden of physicians.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Before and six months after implementation, consultations were recorded and analyzed with video-analytic software. Main outcome measures were time spent on specific tasks within the EHR, total consultation duration, and usability indicators such as required mouse clicks and keystrokes. Additionally, a validated questionnaire was completed twice to evaluate changes in physician perception of EHR system factors and documentation process factors.

RESULTS

Total EHR time in initial oncology consultations was significantly reduced by 3.7 min, a 27 % decrease. In contrast, although a decrease of 13 % in consultation duration was observed, no significant effect on EHR time was found in follow-up consultations. Additionally, perceptions of physicians regarding the EHR and documentation improved significantly.

DISCUSSION

Our results have shown that it is possible to achieve structured data capture while simultaneously reducing the EHR burden, which is a decisive factor in end-user acceptance of documentation systems. Proper alignment of structured documentation with workflows is critical for success.

CONCLUSION

Implementing an EHR embedded care pathway with structured documentation led to decreased EHR burden.

Status and Recommendations of Technological and Data-Driven Innovations in Cancer Care: Focus Group Study

BACKGROUND

The status of the data-driven management of cancer care as well as the challenges, opportunities, and recommendations aimed at accelerating the rate of progress in this field are topics of great interest. Two international workshops, one conducted in June 2019 in Cordoba, Spain, and one in October 2019 in Athens, Greece, were organized by four Horizon 2020 (H2020) European Union (EU)-funded projects: BOUNCE, CATCH ITN, DESIREE, and MyPal. The issues covered included patient engagement, knowledge and data-driven decision support systems, patient journey, rehabilitation, personalized diagnosis, trust, assessment of guidelines, and interoperability of information and communication technology (ICT) platforms. A series of recommendations was provided as the complex landscape of data-driven technical innovation in cancer care was portrayed.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to provide information on the current state of the art of technology and data-driven innovations for the management of cancer care through the work of four EU H2020-funded projects.

METHODS

Two international workshops on ICT in the management of cancer care were held, and several topics were identified through discussion among the participants. A focus group was formulated after the second workshop, in which the status of technological and data-driven cancer management as well as the challenges, opportunities, and recommendations in this area were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

Technical and data-driven innovations provide promising tools for the management of cancer care. However, several challenges must be successfully addressed, such as patient engagement, interoperability of ICT-based systems, knowledge management, and trust. This paper analyzes these challenges, which can be opportunities for further research and practical implementation and can provide practical recommendations for future work.

CONCLUSIONS

Technology and data-driven innovations are becoming an integral part of cancer care management. In this process, specific challenges need to be addressed, such as increasing trust and engaging the whole stakeholder ecosystem, to fully benefit from these innovations.

Oncologists' Views Regarding the Role of Electronic Health Records in Care Coordination

BACKGROUND

Electronic health records (EHRs) play a significant role in complex health care processes, especially in information transfer with patients and care coordination among providers. EHRs may also generate unintended consequences, introducing new patient safety risks. To date, little investigation has been performed in oncology settings, despite the need for quality provider-patient communication and information transfer during oncology visits. In this qualitative study, we focused on oncology providers' perceptions of EHRs for supporting communication with patients and coordination of care with other providers.

METHODS

We conducted semistructured interviews with oncologists from an urban academic medical center to learn their perceptions of the use of EHRs before, during, and after clinic visits with patients. Our interview guide was developed on the basis of the work system model. We coded transcripts using inductive content analysis.

RESULTS

Data analysis yielded four main themes regarding oncologists' practices in using the EHR and perceptions about EHRs: (1) EHR use for care coordination (eg, timeliness of receiving information, SmartSet documentation); (2) EHR use in the clinic visit (eg, educating patients, using as a reinforcement tool); (3) safety hazards in care coordination associated with EHRs (eg, incomplete documentation, error propagating, no filtering mechanism to capture errors); and (4) suggestions for improvements (eg, improved SmartSet functionalities, simplification of user interface).

CONCLUSION

Current EHRs do not adequately support teamwork of oncology providers, which could lead to potential hazards in the care of patients with cancer. Redesigning EHR features that are tailored to support oncology care and addressing the concerns regarding information overload, improved organization of flagging abnormal results, and documentation-related workload are needed to minimize potential safety hazards.

What to expect from electronic patient record system implementation: lessons learned from published evidence

Background

Numerous studies have examined factors related to success, failure and implications of electronic patient record (EPR) system implementations, but usually limited to specific aspects.

Objective

To review the published peer-reviewed literature and present findings regarding factors important in relation to successful EPR implementations and likely impact on subsequent clinical activity.

Method

Literature review.

Results

Three hundred and twelve potential articles were identified on initial search, of which 117 were relevant and included in the review. Several factors were related to implementation success, such as good leadership and management, infrastructure support, staff training and focus on workflows and usability. In general, EPR implementation is associated with improvements in documentation and screening performance and reduced prescribing errors, whereas there are minimal available data in other areas such as effects on clinical patient outcomes. The peer-reviewed literature appears to under-represent a range of technical factors important for EPR implementations, such as data migration from existing systems and impact of organisational readiness.

Conclusion

The findings presented here represent the synthesis of data from peer-reviewed literature in the field and should be of value to provide the evidence-base for organisations considering how best to implement an EPR system.