This case study presents a collection of thoughts regarding the process of selecting and deploying an electronic medical record (EMR) in a physician's practice. Practical advice and observations are detailed about what was learned and how the practice has benefited.

The aim of this study is to describe how Belgian family physicians register and use the family history data of their patients in daily practice. Qualitative in-depth semistructured one-to-one interviews were conducted including 16 family physicians in Belgium. These interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed. Recurring themes were identified and compared with findings from the existing...

Clinical trials are an important part of modern medical research, however the effort required to find candidates for participation in such trial is significant. With the increasing prevalence of electronic medical records, automated or semi-automated solutions become feasible. We present an semi-automated approach for determining clinical trial eligibility based on information available in an e...

At first, it might be hard to imagine how using an electronic medical record in your practice and in the exam room could improve communication with patients. In fact, it may be easier to see the computer as just another thing that gets in the way of our having meaningful interactions with patients—a third wheel, so to speak. Because patients view communication as the most important factor in th...

Physicians have many unmet information needs that arise in the course of patient care. Many clinical questions could potentially be answered by streamlined access to medical literature, textbooks, and clinical guidelines in the context of the electronic medical record. We designed and implemented SmartQuery, a prototype application to provide context-sensitive links from an electronic patient r...