An accurate method of measuring primary care providers' tobacco counseling actions is needed for monitoring adherence to clinical practice guidelines. We compared three methods of measuring providers' tobacco counseling practices: electronic medical record (EMR) review, patient survey, and provider survey. We mailed a survey to 1,613 smokers seen by 114 Boston-area primary care providers during...

Health information technology (HIT) is engineered to promote improved quality and efficiency of care, and reduce medical errors. Healthcare organizations have made significant investments in HIT tools and the electronic medical record (EMR) is a major technological advance. The Department of Veterans Affairs was one of the first large healthcare systems to fully implement EMR. The Veterans Heal...

Computerization of physician practices is increasing. Stakeholders are demanding demonstrated value for their Electronic Medical Record (EMR) implementations. We developed survey tools to measure medical office processes, including administrative and physician tasks pre- and post-EMR implementation. We included variables that were expected to improve with EMR implementation and those that were ...

EMR use during medical visits has been found to distract physicians and negatively influence their ability to deliver patient-centered care. In this issue, Assis-Hassid and colleagues propose a redress of this effect by creating a 23-item inventory of communication-related best practices regarding EMR use during medical visits with relevance for medical student training and enhanced clinical pr...

BACKGROUND Early Gastric Cancer (EGC) is defined as a neoplasm confined to the mucosa or submucosa regardless of regional lymph node metastasis. The rate of EGC, which varies by country, is up to 40-60% of all gastric cancer cases in Japan, whilst in Western countries, the proportion remains at 5-10%. There is a strong male predominance in EGC. The average 5-year survival rate of patients with ...

Oncology outcomes research could benefit from the use of an oncology-specific electronic medical record (EMR) network. The benefits and challenges of using EMR in general health research have been investigated; however, the utility of EMR for oncology outcomes research has not been explored. Compared to current available oncology databases and registries, an oncology-specific EMR could provide ...

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems have been a focus of the healthcare sector and have seen significant deployment around the world in recent years. Despite high expectations and widespread use, the outcomes of EMR have been mixed. In this study, we attempt to understand the dynamics of EMR adoption in the hospital environment through the lens of organizational learning. We find that while...