Dataset Information

Secondary use of electronic medical records for clinical research: Challenges and Opportunities.

ABSTRACT: With increasingly ubiquitous electronic medical record (EMR) implementation accelerated by the adoption of the HITECH Act, there is much interest in the secondary use of collected data to improve outcomes and promote personalized medicine. A plethora of research has emerged using EMRs to investigate clinical research questions and assess variations in both treatments and outcomes. However, whether because of genuine complexities of modeling disease physiology or because of practical problems regarding data capture, data accuracy, and data completeness, the state of current EMR research is challenging and gives rise to concerns regarding study accuracy and reproducibility. This work explores challenges in how different experimental design decisions can influence results using a specific example of breast cancer patients undergoing excision and reconstruction surgeries from EMRs in an academic hospital and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) We discuss emerging strategies that will mitigate these limitations, including data sharing, application of natural language processing, and improved EMR user design.

SUBMITTER: Yim WW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5933881 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Secondary use of electronic medical records for clinical research: Challenges and Opportunities.

Yim Wen-Wai WW Wheeler Amanda J AJ Curtin Catherine C Wagner Todd H TH Hernandez-Boussard Tina T

Convergent science physical oncology 20180212 1

With increasingly ubiquitous electronic medical record (EMR) implementation accelerated by the adoption of the HITECH Act, there is much interest in the secondary use of collected data to improve outcomes and promote personalized medicine. A plethora of research has emerged using EMRs to investigate clinical research questions and assess variations in both treatments and outcomes. However, whether because of genuine complexities of modeling disease physiology or because of practical problems reg ...[more]

PMID: 29732166

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Project description:OBJECTIVE:The use of electronic medical record (EMR) data is necessary to improve clinical research efficiency. However, it is not easy to identify patients who meet research eligibility criteria and collect the necessary information from EMRs because the data collection process must integrate various techniques, including the development of a data warehouse and translation of eligibility criteria into computable criteria. This research aimed to demonstrate an electronic medical records retrieval system (ERS) and an example of a hospital-based cohort study that identified both patients and exposure with an ERS. We also evaluated the feasibility and usefulness of the method. DESIGN:The system was developed and evaluated. PARTICIPANTS:In total, 800 000 cases of clinical information stored in EMRs at our hospital were used. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:The feasibility and usefulness of the ERS, the method to convert text from eligible criteria to computable criteria, and a confirmation method to increase research data accuracy. RESULTS:To comprehensively and efficiently collect information from patients participating in clinical research, we developed an ERS. To create the ERS database, we designed a multidimensional data model optimised for patient identification. We also devised practical methods to translate narrative eligibility criteria into computable parameters. We applied the system to an actual hospital-based cohort study performed at our hospital and converted the test results into computable criteria. Based on this information, we identified eligible patients and extracted data necessary for confirmation by our investigators and for statistical analyses with our ERS. CONCLUSIONS:We propose a pragmatic methodology to identify patients from EMRs who meet clinical research eligibility criteria. Our ERS allowed for the efficient collection of information on the eligibility of a given patient, reduced the labour required from the investigators and improved the reliability of the results.

Project description:The objective was to compare case ascertainment, agreement, validity, and missing values for clinical research data obtained, processed, and linked electronically from electronic health records (EHR) compared to "manual" data processing and record abstraction in a cohort of out-of-hospital trauma patients.? This was a secondary analysis of two sets of data collected for a prospective, population-based, out-of-hospital trauma cohort evaluated by 10 emergency medical services (EMS) agencies transporting to 16 hospitals, from January 1, 2006, through October 2, 2007. Eighteen clinical, operational, procedural, and outcome variables were collected and processed separately and independently using two parallel data processing strategies by personnel blinded to patients in the other group. The electronic approach included EHR data exports from EMS agencies, reformatting, and probabilistic linkage to outcomes from local trauma registries and state discharge databases. The manual data processing approach included chart matching, data abstraction, and data entry by a trained abstractor. Descriptive statistics, measures of agreement, and validity were used to compare the two approaches to data processing.? During the 21-month period, 418 patients underwent both data processing methods and formed the primary cohort. Agreement was good to excellent (kappa = 0.76 to 0.97; intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.49 to 0.97), with exact agreement in 67% to 99% of cases and a median difference of zero for all continuous and ordinal variables. The proportions of missing out-of-hospital values were similar between the two approaches, although electronic processing generated more missing outcomes (87 of 418, 21%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 17% to 25%) than the manual approach (11 of 418, 3%, 95% CI = 1% to 5%). Case ascertainment of eligible injured patients was greater using electronic methods (n = 3,008) compared to manual methods (n = 629).? In this sample of out-of-hospital trauma patients, an all-electronic data processing strategy identified more patients and generated values with good agreement and validity compared to traditional data collection and processing methods.

Project description:BackgroundCall detail records (CDRs) are collected by mobile network operators in the course of providing their service. CDRs are increasingly being used in research along with other forms of big data and represent an emerging data type with potential for public good. Many jurisdictions have infrastructures for health data research that could benefit from the integration of CDRs with health data.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to review how CDRs have been used in health research and to identify challenges and potential opportunities for their wider use in conjunction with health data.MethodsA literature review was conducted using structured search terms making use of major search engines. Initially, 4066 items were identified. Following screening, 46 full text articles were included in the qualitative synthesis. Information extracted included research topic area, population of study, datasets used, information governance and ethical considerations, study findings, and data limitations.ResultsThe majority of published studies were focused on low-income and middle-income countries. Making use of the location element in CDRs, studies often modeled the transmission of infectious diseases or estimated population movement following natural disasters with a view to implementing interventions. CDRs were used in anonymized or aggregated form, and the process of gaining regulatory approvals varied with data provider and by jurisdiction. None included public views on the use of CDRs in health research.ConclusionsDespite various challenges and limitations, anonymized mobile phone CDRs have been used successfully in health research. The use of aggregated data is a safeguard but also a further limitation. Greater opportunities could be gained if validated anonymized CDRs were integrated with routine health records at an individual level, provided that permissions and safeguards could be put in place. Further work is needed, including gaining public views, to develop an ethically founded framework for the use of CDRs in health research.

Dataset Information

Secondary use of electronic medical records for clinical research: Challenges and Opportunities.

Publications

Secondary use of electronic medical records for clinical research: Challenges and Opportunities.

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