Assessing provider-generated free-text quality in EHR-Integrated Handoff Notes

Elliot G. Arsoniadis, Steven J. Skube, Treva M. Bjerke, Bryan Jarabek, Genevieve B. Melton

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Handoff notes are increasingly integrated within electronic health record (EHR) systems and often contain data automatically generated from the EHR and free-text narratives. We examined the quality of data entered by providers in the free-text portion of our institutional EHR handoff tool. Overall, 65% of handoff notes contained at least one error (average 1.7 errors per note). Most errors were omissions in information around patient plan/management or assessment/diagnosis rather than entry of false data. Factors associated with increased error rate were increasing hospital day number; weekend note; medical (vs. surgical) service team; and authorship by a medical student, first or fourth year resident physician, or attending physician. Our findings suggest that errors are common in handoff notes, and while these errors are not completely false data, they may provide individuals caring for patients an inaccurate understanding of patient status.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMEDINFO 2017
Subtitle of host publicationPrecision Healthcare through Informatics - Proceedings of the 16th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics
EditorsAdi V. Gundlapalli, Jaulent Marie-Christine, Zhao Dongsheng
PublisherIOS Press BV
Pages999-1003
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781614998297
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
Event16th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics: Precision Healthcare through Informatics, MedInfo 2017 - Hangzhou, China
Duration: Aug 21 2017Aug 25 2017

Publication series

NameStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume245
ISSN (Print)0926-9630
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8365

Other

Other16th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics: Precision Healthcare through Informatics, MedInfo 2017
Country/TerritoryChina
CityHangzhou
Period8/21/178/25/17

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery, Fairview Health Services, and University of Minnesota Physicians/MHealth for their support of this work.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and IOS Press.

Keywords

  • Electronic health records
  • Patient handoff
  • Patient transfer

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