Medical Record Closure Practices of Physicians Before and After the Use of Medical Scribes.

This study uses electronic health record data to evaluate medical record closure outcomes before and after the use of medical scribes at a large academic medical center.

Experiencias sobre la implementación del Expediente Clínico Electrónico / Experiences on the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record

Resumen Introducción. Un elemento de la e-salud que ha cobrado gran relevancia es el Expediente Clínico Electrónico (ECE) ya que es un medio para lograr mejores resultados en la práctica médica. Al momento, han sido pocas las investigaciones que se han centrado en analizar e identificar la situación de esta estrategia en el mundo. Por ello, el objetivo de esta investigación es analizar el panorama actual del ECE en diversos países considerando las ventajas, desventajas, desafíos y factores de éxito en su implementación. Metodología: Se realizó una revisión de la literatura existente sobre el ECE en base de datos especializadas. Para obtener estos estudios se utilizó la base de datos de scopus y sciencedirect , utilizando palabras de búsqueda como como registro electrónico de salud, registro médico electrónico o expediente clínico electrónico; se seleccionaron solamente aquellos estudios con un alto factor de impacto, mismo que se refiere al número de veces que se hayan citado los artículos consultados. Se seleccionaron y analizaron 64 estudios académicos. Resultados. Se encontró que aún existen importantes desafíos y desventajas en la implementación del ECE como la interoperabilidad semántica y el estrés laboral que genera en los usuarios este sistema. Conclusiones. Existen cuestiones importantes que aún quedan por resolver para una implementación eficaz del ECE. Es necesario integrar a todos los involucrados en el proceso de cambio, así como establecer las medidas de seguridad necesarias para garantizar la privacidad de la información.

Abstract Introduction. An element of e-health that has gained great relevance is the Electronic Medical Record (ECE) since it is a means to achieve better results in medical practice. At the moment, few investigations have focused on analyzing and identifying the situation of this strategy in the world. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze the current panorama of ECE in various countries considering the advantages, disadvantages, challenges and success factors in its implementation. Methodology. A review of the existing literature on ECE was carried out in specialized databases. To obtain these studies, the scopus and sciencedirect databases were used, using search words such as "electronic health record", "electronic medical record" or "electronic medical record"; Only those studies with a high impact factor were selected, which refers to the number of times the articles consulted have been cited. 64 academic studies were selected and analyzed. Results. It was found that there are still important challenges and disadvantages in the implementation of ECE such as semantic interoperability and the work stress that this system generates in users. Conclusions. There are important issues that remain to be resolved in the effective implementation of the ECE. It is necessary to integrate all those involved in the change process as well as to establish the necessary security measures to guarantee the privacy of the information.

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An interview study with medical scribes on how their work may alleviate clinician burnout through delegated health IT tasks.

OBJECTIVES: To understand how medical scribes' work may contribute to alleviating clinician burnout attributable directly or indirectly to the use of health IT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with 32 participants who had scribing experience in a variety of clinical settings. RESULTS: We identified 7 categories of clinical tasks that clinicians commonly choose to offload to medical scribes, many of which involve delegated use of health IT. These range from notes-taking and computerized data entry to foraging, assembling, and tracking information scattered across multiple clinical information systems. Some common characteristics shared among these tasks include: (1) time-consuming to perform; (2) difficult to remember or keep track of; (3) disruptive to clinical workflow, clinicians' cognitive processes, or patient-provider interactions; (4) perceived to be low-skill "clerical" work; and (5) deemed as adding no value to direct patient care. DISCUSSION: The fact that clinicians opt to "outsource" certain clinical tasks to medical scribes is a strong indication that performing these tasks is not perceived to be the best use of their time. Given that a vast majority of healthcare practices in the US do not have the luxury of affording medical scribes, the burden would inevitably fall onto clinicians' shoulders, which could be a major source for clinician burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Medical scribes help to offload a substantial amount of burden from clinicians-particularly with tasks that involve onerous interactions with health IT. Developing a better understanding of medical scribes' work provides useful insights into the sources of clinician burnout and potential solutions to it.

Five Years' Experience With a Medical Scribe Fellowship: Shaping Future Health Professions Students While Addressing Provider Burnout.

Professional burnout has reached epidemic levels among U.S. medical providers. One key driver is the burden of clinical documentation in the electronic health record, which has given rise to medical scribes. Despite the demonstrated benefits of scribes, many providers-especially those in academic health systems-have been unable to make an economic case for them. With the aim of creating a cost-effective scribe program in which premedical students gain skills that better position them for professional schooling, while providers at risk of burnout obtain documentation support, the authors launched the Clinical Observation and Medical Transcription (COMET) Program in June 2015 at Stanford University School of Medicine. COMET is a new type of postbaccalaureate premedical program that combines an apprenticeship-like scribing experience and a package of teaching, advising, application support, and mentored scholarship that is supported by student tuition. Driven by strong demand from both participants and faculty, the program grew rapidly during its first 5 years (2015-2020). Program evaluations indicated high levels of satisfaction among participants and faculty with their mentors and mentees, respectively; that participants felt the experience better positioned them for professional schooling; and that faculty reported improved joy of practice. In summary, tuition-supported medical scribe programs, like COMET, appear to be feasible and cost-effective. The COMET model may have the potential to help shape future health professions students, while simultaneously combating provider burnout. While scalability and generalizability remain uncertain, this model may be worth exploring at other institutions.

Scribes, EHRs, and Workflow Efficiencies in Allergy Practices.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In the ever-changing healthcare system, along with new advancements in the field of allergy, the workflow for the allergist continues to evolve requiring more time spent doing non-clinical duties such as documentation and reviewing reimbursement challenges in the midst of busy clinics. The use of electronic medical records and medical scribes has emerged as tactics to aid the clinic's workflow and efficiency in the modern allergy and immunology clinic. RECENT FINDINGS: The practicing allergist can implement various additional strategies in their office workflow to maximize and synthesize good medicine and good business. Optimal use of office staff, electronic health records, and various workflow efficiencies has been shown to improve job satisfaction and reduce physician burnout. By utilizing these methods and integrating them into their practices, allergists will be able to meet the demands of the healthcare system and still provide patients with evidence based, compassionate, and cost-effective care.

Computer-assisted clinical coding: A narrative review of the literature on its benefits, limitations, implementation and impact on clinical coding professionals.

BACKGROUND: Information technology has the potential to streamline processes in healthcare for improved efficiency, quality and safety, while reducing costs. Computer-assisted clinical coding (CAC) has made it possible to automate the clinical coding process by assigning diagnoses and procedures from electronic sources of clinical documentation. Implementation of CAC requires both investigation of the clinical coding workflow and exploration of how the clinical coding professional's role might change and evolve as a result of this technology. OBJECTIVE: To examine the benefits and limitations of CAC technology; best practices for CAC adoption; the impact of CAC on traditional coding practices and roles in the inpatient setting. METHOD: This narrative review explores the current literature available on CAC. Literature indexed in ProQuest, Medline and other relevant sources between January 2006 and June 2017 was considered. RESULTS: A total of 38 journal articles, published dissertations and case studies revealed that CAC has demonstrated value in improving clinical coding accuracy and quality, which can be missed during the manual clinical coding process. CONCLUSION: Clinical coding professionals should view CAC as an opportunity not a threat. CAC will allow clinical coding professionals to further develop their clinical coding skills and knowledge for future career progression into new roles such as clinical coding editors and clinical coding analysts. Sound change management strategies are essential for successful restructuring of the clinical coding workflows during the implementation of CAC.

A qualitative evaluation of clinically coded data quality from health information manager perspectives.

BACKGROUND: It is essential that clinical documentation and clinical coding be of high quality for the production of healthcare data. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed qualitatively the strengths and barriers regarding clinical coding quality from the perspective of health information managers. METHOD: Ten health information managers and clinical coding quality coordinators who oversee clinical coders (CCs) were identified and recruited from nine provinces across Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, which included questions on data quality, costs of clinical coding, education for health information management, suggestions for quality improvement and barriers to quality improvement. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using directed content analysis and informed by institutional ethnography. RESULTS: Common barriers to clinical coding quality included incomplete and unorganised chart documentation, and lack of communication with physicians for clarification. Further, clinical coding quality suffered as a result of limited resources (e.g. staffing and budget) being available to health information management departments. Managers unanimously reported that clinical coding quality improvements can be made by (i) offering interactive training programmes to CCs and (ii) streamlining sources of information from charts. CONCLUSION: Although clinical coding quality is generally regarded as high across Canada, clinical coding managers perceived quality to be limited by incomplete and inconsistent chart documentation, and increasing expectations for data collection without equal resources allocated to clinical coding professionals. IMPLICATIONS: This study presents novel evidence for clinical coding quality improvement across Canada.

Health records as the basis of clinical coding: Is the quality adequate? A qualitative study of medical coders' perceptions.

BACKGROUND: Health records are the basis of clinical coding. In Portugal, relevant diagnoses and procedures are abstracted and categorised using an internationally accepted classification system and the resulting codes, together with the administrative data, are then grouped into diagnosis-related groups (DRGs). Hospital reimbursement is partially calculated from the DRGs. Moreover, the administrative database generated with these data is widely used in research and epidemiology, among other purposes. OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceptions of medical coders (medical doctors) regarding possible problems with health records that may affect the quality of coded data. METHOD: A qualitative design using four focus groups sessions with 10 medical coders was undertaken between October and November 2017. The convenience sample was obtained from four public hospitals in Portugal. Questions related to problems with the coding process were developed from the literature and authors' expertise. The focus groups sessions were taped, transcribed and analysed to elicit themes. RESULTS: There are several problems, identified by the focus groups, in health records that influence the coded data: the lack of or unclear documented information; the variability in diagnosis description; "copy & paste"; and the lack of solutions to solve these problems. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The use of standards in health records, audits and physician awareness could increase the quality of health records, contributing to improvements in the quality of coded data, and in the fulfilment of its purposes (e.g. more accurate payments and more reliable research).

Clinical scribes and their association with patient experience in the otolaryngology clinic.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Electronic health records have brought many advantages but also placed a documentation burden on the provider during and after the clinic visit. Some otolaryngologists have countered this challenge by employing clinical scribes. This project aimed to better understand the influence of scribes on patient experience in the otolaryngology clinic. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort survey study. METHODS: Patients presenting to the otolaryngology clinic for new and follow-up appointments were recruited to complete surveys about their experience. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients completed the survey, and 96 of those patients (62.7%) interacted with a scribe. Patient satisfaction was not significantly associated with participation of the scribe (P = .668). Similarly, patient rating of their physician on a scale of 1 to 10 was not associated with scribe involvement (P = .851). The patients who did interact with a scribe responded that the scribe positively impacted the visit 77.1% of the time. Participation of a resident, primary language other than English, and use of interpreter were associated with lower satisfaction (P = .004, P < .001, and P < .001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: There are no published data on the effect of scribes on patient experience in the otolaryngology clinic. In other specialties, scribes have been demonstrated as having a positive effect on provider satisfaction, clinical productivity, and patient perception. These data demonstrate that patient satisfaction was neither impaired nor improved by the presence of the scribe in this clinic. In light of benefits demonstrated by prior studies, these findings support the conclusion that scribes are a useful adjunct in providing high-level otolaryngology care. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 130:E134-E139, 2020.

Conocimientos, actitudes, prácticas y subregistro de dengue en el municipio de Tocaima, Cundinamarca, 2019 / Knowledge, acttitudes, practices and dengue under registration Tocaima, Cundinamarca 2019

Introducción. Pese a las estrategias de vigilancia se cree que existe subregistro de dengue, lo que puede ser secundario a la no detección de casos ya sea por no consulta del paciente, por falla en el diagnóstico o diligenciamiento de fichas de notificación. Objetivo. Estimar el subregistro de los casos de dengue en el municipio de Tocaima durante el periodo de enero a septiembre de 2019 y establecer los conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas respecto al dengue de los habitantes del municipio. Metodología. Se realizó un estudio transversal de prevalencia durante el período de enero a septiembre de 2019 en la población urbana de Tocaima, mediante encuestas a dos viviendas de las 262 manzanas seleccionadas por muestreo aleatorio simple en la búsqueda activa comunitaria y en el 100% de los registros individuales de prestación de servicios y del sistema de vigilancia nacional en salud pública SIVIGILA mediante Búsqueda Activa Institucional BAI. Resultados. Se encuestaron 440 personas de las cuales 19 manifestaron haber presentado síntomas y signos de dengue en el periodo de estudio, de estos, seis personas no asistieron a consulta médica. El Subregistro Comunitario por falta de asistencia a consulta médica fue de 31,5%. Se identificaron en SIVIGILA 125 casos de dengue notificados en el periodo y 156 en el Registro Individual de Prestación de Servicios (RIPS), aplicando el método de Chandra-Sekar Deming se estimaron un total de 257 casos, para un Subregistro Institucional de SIVIGILA de 48,5%. Conclusiones. Son diversas las razones por las cuales no se notificaron todos los casos de la enfermedad al sistema de vigilancia, la primera es que solo se notifican los casos de las personas que consultan a los servicios de salud y que además viven en Tocaima, la segunda es que algunos casos detectados no se notificaron al sistema de vigilancia por errores de procedimiento, o por desconocimiento del diagnóstico por el personal de salud.

Introduction. Despite the surveillance strategies, it is believed that there is an underreporting of dengue, which may be secondary to the non-detection of cases, either due to non-consultation of the patient, due to failure in the diagnosis or filling in of notification sheets. Objective. Estimate the under-registration of dengue cases in the municipality of Tocaima during the period from January to September 2019 and to establish the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue of the inhabitants of the municipality. Methodology and materials. A cross-sectional study of prevalence was carried out during the period from January to September 2019, in the urban population of Tocaima, through surveys of 2 dwellings of the 262 blocks selected by simple random sampling in the active community search, and in 100% of individual records of service provision and Sivigila through institutional active search. Results. 440 people were surveyed, 19 of whom reported having symptoms and signs of dengue in the study period, of these, six people did not attend a medical consultation. The Community Under-registration for lack of attendance at medical consultation was 31.5%. 125 cases of dengue reported in the period were identified in SIVIGILA and 156 in the Individual Service Provision Registry (RIPS), applying the Chandra-Sekar Deming method, a total of 257 cases were estimated, for a SIVIGILA Institutional Sub-registry of 48,5%. Conclusions. There are several reasons why not all cases of the disease were notified to the surveillance system, the first is that only the cases of people who consult the health services and who also live in Tocaima, the second, some cases detected were not notified to the surveillance system due to procedural errors, or due to lack of knowledge of the diagnosis by health personne.

Practice Characteristics Associated with Better Implementation of Patient Self-Management Support.

BACKGROUND: Advanced primary care models emphasize patient-centered care, including self-management support (SMS). This study aimed to promote the translation of SMS into primary care practices and reported on key baseline practice characteristics that may impact SMS implementation. METHODS: Thirty-six practices in Colorado and California participated in the study from December 2013 to March 2017. Practice administrators completed a Practice Information Form describing practice characteristics. Clinicians and staff (n = 716) completed the Practice Culture Assessment and the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Monitor. Descriptive statistics were computed to determine practice characteristics related to culture, quality improvement, level of PCMH, and SMS implementation. Field notes and key informant interviews provided contextual details about practices. Iterative qualitative analyses identified important facilitators and barriers and change capabilities around SMS implementation. RESULTS: In bivariate analyses, rural locations, fewer uncontrolled patients with diabetes, higher Medicaid or uninsured populations, underserved designation, and higher level of "PCMHness" were associated with greater reported implementation of patient SMS (all P < .05) at baseline. In the final multilevel model, specialty (FM vs mixed, P = .0081), rural location (P = .0109), and higher percent Medicaid (P < .0001) were associated with greater SMS. Practices described key facilitators (alignment, motivation, a visible champion, supporting infrastructure, and functional quality improvement and care teams) and barriers (no shared vision, no visible champion, siloed infrastructure, competing programs, turnover, and time constraints) to improving SMS delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Careful attention-and action-on key practice characteristics and context may create more favorable initial conditions for practice change efforts to improve SMS in primary care practices.

The agreement between chronic diseases reported by patients and derived from administrative data in patients undergoing joint arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the agreement between patient-reported chronic diseases and hospital administrative records in hip or knee arthroplasty patients in England. METHODS: Survey data reported by 676,428 patients for the English Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) programme was linked to hospital administrative data. Sensitivity and specificity of 11 patient-reported chronic diseases were estimated with hospital administrative data as reference standard. RESULTS: Specificity was high (> 90%) for all 11 chronic diseases. However, sensitivity varied by disease with the highest found for 'diabetes' (87.5%) and 'high blood pressure' (74.3%) and lowest for 'kidney disease' (18.8%) and 'leg pain due to poor circulation' (26.1%). Sensitivity was increased for diseases that were given as specific examples in the questionnaire (e.g. 'parkinson's disease' (65.6%) and 'multiple sclerosis' (69.5%), compared to 'diseases of the nervous system' (20.9%)). CONCLUSIONS: Patients can give information about the presence of chronic diseases that is consistent with chronic diseases derived from hospital administrative data if the description in the patient questionnaire is precise and if the disease is familiar to most patients and has significant impact on their life. Such patient questionnaires need to be validated before they are used for research and service evaluation projects.

The qualculative dimension of healthcare data interoperability.

Research on interoperability and information exchange between information technology systems touts the use of secondary data for a variety of purposes, including research, management, quality improvement, and accountability. However, many studies have pointed out that this is difficult to achieve in practice. Hence, this article aims to examine the causes for this by reporting an ethnographic study of the data work performed by medical records coders and birth certificate clerks working in a hospital system to uncover the practices of creating administrative data (e.g. secondary data). The article illustrates that clerks and coders use situated qualitative judgments of the accuracy and authority of different primary medical accounts. Coders and clerks also employ their understandings of the importance of different future uses of data as they make crucial decisions about how much discretion to exercise in producing accurate data and how much effort to put toward clarifying problematic medical data. These findings suggest that information technology systems designed for interoperability and secondary data also need to be designed in ways that support the qualculative practices of data workers in order to succeed, including making future uses of data clear to data workers and finding ways to minimize conflicting data before data workers encounter it.

Computer-based clinical coding activity analysis for neurosurgical terms / 영남의대학술지

BACKGROUND: It is not possible to measure how much activity is required to understand and code a medical data. We introduce an assessment method in clinical coding, and applied this method to neurosurgical terms.METHODS: Coding activity consists of two stages. At first, the coders need to understand a presented medical term (informational activity). The second coding stage is about a navigating terminology browser to find a code that matches the concept (code-matching activity). Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) was used for the coding system. A new computer application to record the trajectory of the computer mouse and record the usage time was programmed. Using this application, we measured the time that was spent. A senior neurosurgeon who has studied SNOMED CT has analyzed the accuracy of the input coding. This method was tested by five neurosurgical residents (NSRs) and five medical record administrators (MRAs), and 20 neurosurgical terms were used.RESULTS: The mean accuracy of the NSR group was 89.33%, and the mean accuracy of the MRA group was 80% (p=0.024). The mean duration for total coding of the NSR group was 158.47 seconds, and the mean duration for total coding of the MRA group was 271.75 seconds (p=0.003).CONCLUSION: We proposed a method to analyze the clinical coding process. Through this method, it was possible to accurately calculate the time required for the coding. In neurosurgical terms, NSRs had shorter time to complete the coding and higher accuracy than MRAs.

Which ICD-9-CM codes should be used for bronchiolitis research?

BACKGROUND: Bronchiolitis is a common respiratory disorder in children. Although there are specific ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes for bronchiolitis, the illness is often coded using broader diagnosis codes. This creates the potential for subject misclassification if researchers rely on specific diagnosis codes when assembling retrospective cohorts. Here we challenge the common research practice of relying on specific diagnosis codes for bronchiolitis. METHODS: We examined the use of diagnosis codes for the first episode of bronchiolitis, bronchitis, acute asthma, and bronchospasm and wheezing, in children younger than six and 24 months in the State of California Medic-Aid database. We categorized codes as narrow or broad diagnosis codes. We compared patient, geographic, and temporal characteristics of the different diagnoses codes. RESULTS: We identified visits from 48,732 children for first episode of wheezing illness. We retained 48,269 who had the diagnosis codes and data of interest. Diagnosis codes for acute asthma were widely used, even in children younger than six months in whom a diagnosis code for bronchiolitis would have been anticipated. The temporal pattern was similar across all diagnoses. Antipyretics were prescribed more often in those with diagnosis codes for bronchiolitis and bronchitis. Other statistically significant differences were too small to usefully distinguish the groups. There was substantial geographic variability in the diagnosis codes selected. CONCLUSION: Users of Medic-Aid administrative data should generally favor broad rather than narrow definitions of bronchiolitis and should perform sensitivity analysis comparing broad and narrow definitions.