This paper presents a model for an electronic medical record which satisfies the requirements for a faithful and structured record of patient care set out in a previous paper in this series. The model underlies the PEN & PAD clinical workstation, and it provides for a permanent, completely attributable record of patient care and the process of medical decision making. The model separates the re...

Since 2004, increasing importance has been placed on the adoption of electronic medical records by healthcare providers for documentation of patient care. Recent federal regulations have shifted the focus from adoption alone to meaningful use of an electronic medical record system. As proposed by the Technology Acceptance Model, the behavioral intention to use technology is determined by the pe...

Information technology (IT) is widely acknowledged to be a critical component of improving healthcare in Canada. Across the country a great deal of work has already been accomplished in this area, and Canadians have repeatedly proven themselves to be global leaders in the health IT field: from pioneering initiatives, such as the Ontario Telemedicine Network and Prince Edward Island’s Drug Infor...

OBJECTIVES To summarize current outstanding research in the field of decision support, knowledge representation and management. METHOD Synopsis of the articles selected for the IMIA Yearbook 2008. RESULTS Five papers from international peer reviewed journals have been selected for the section on decision support, knowledge representation and management. They address a wide range of topics s...

OBJECTIVE The study's objective was to determine if alterations to the utility of an existing electronic medical record (EMR) application resulted in an improvement in clinical operations. METHODS We altered several templates within an existing EMR application to improve ease of documentation of clinical encounters. These changes were disease specific, brought documentation into central locat...

BACKGROUND Challenges in the design of electronic health records (EHRs) include designing usable systems that must meet the complex, rapidly changing, and high-stakes information needs of clinicians. The ability to move and assemble elements together on the same page has significant human-computer interaction (HCI) and efficiency advantages, and can mitigate the problems of negotiating multiple...

Today there is a constant flow of data into, out of, and between ever-larger and ever-more complex databases about people. Together, these digital traces collectively capture our social genome , the footprints of our society. The burgeoning field of population informatics is the systematic study of populations via secondary analysis of such massive data collections (termed "big data") about peo...

The increasing availability of laboratory information management modules within enterprise electronic health record solutions has resulted in some institutional administrators deciding which laboratory information system will be used to manage workflow within the laboratory, often with minimal input from the pathologists. This article aims to educate pathologists on many of the issues and impli...

INTRODUCTION In this special issue of eGEMs, we explore the struggles related to bringing evidence into day-to-day practice, what I define as the "evidence gap." We are all aware of high quality evidence in the form of guidelines, randomized clinical trials for treatments and diagnostic tests, and clinical prediction rules, which are all readily available online. We also know that electronic he...

Meaningful Use guidelines have pushed the United States Healthcare System to adopt electronic health record systems (EHRs) at an unprecedented rate. Hospitals and medical centers are providing access to clinical data via clinical data warehouses such as i2b2, or Stanford's STRIDE database. In order to realize the potential of using these data for translational research, clinical data warehouses...