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. 2005:2005:246-50.

In support of emergency department health information technology

John T Finnell  1 , J Marc Overhage, Clement J McDonald
Affiliations

In support of emergency department health information technology

John T Finnell et al. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2005.

Abstract

Emergency department visits represent a significant portion of medical care. Emergency physicians require immediate access to clinical information in order to provide quality care. Increased medical errors result when access to the complete medical record is limited. Clinicians' access to clinical information is limited to the greatest extent when care occurs over short time intervals, and between separate healthcare systems. Over the four-year period, the majority (85%) of all patients, stay within the same system; however, of patients with more than one visit, this percentage decreases to 66%. Of patients who return within 24 hours, 75% return to the same hospital or healthcare system. This patient population represents a unique cohort with special healthcare needs. Not only do they represent a disproportionate share of visits compared to those remaining within a single system but they also represent additional, and often underestimated, opportunities to provide quality care.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Locations of Emergency Departments participating in the INPC whose data are included in this study. Each circle represents one hospital. Each color represents a separate hospital system.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Patients seen at one hospital (the small yellow dot in the center of this figure) tend to have their other encounters at nearby hospitals. The number of ED visits at each of the other hospitals is proportional to the dots’ size.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total Unique Patients per Hospital System
Figure 4
Figure 4
Total Visits by Hospital System
Figure 5
Figure 5
Each dot represents a patient who received care during a seven-year period (1997 to 2003) at one of the 12 EDs we studied illustrating the scope of health information exchange that will eventually be required
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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