NEJM -- Can Electronic Clinical Documentation Help Prevent Diagnostic Errors?

Electronic Health Records Can Prevent and Reduce Diagnostic Errors, According to AHRQ Researchers

AHRQ researchers suggest that electronic health records (EHRs) promise multiple benefits, including the potential for preventing, minimizing, and mitigating diagnostic errors. The authors, AHRQ-funded researchers Gordon Schiff, M.D. and David Bates, M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of General Internal Medicine, Boston, explain that through improved design efforts of EHR systems, visual functions can be enhanced so clinicians can make more rapid decisions; documentation of patient history and ongoing assessment can be better facilitated; communications and actions for ordering tests and tracking results can be better ensured; and checklists can be incorporated to help prompt key questions leading to relevant diagnoses. The authors recommend that patients, clinicians, and other caregivers be engaged in the process of developing and improving such systems. The editorial, “Can Electronic Clinical Documentation Help Prevent Diagnostic Errors?” was published in the March 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Select to access the editorial.

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NEJM -- Can Electronic Clinical Documentation Help Prevent Diagnostic Errors?