USE OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN CLINICAL DATA MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Gathering variables relevant to the study hypotheses and applying them to produce high-quality, dependable, and statistically sound results from clinical trials are the two main components of data collection and management in clinical research. Clinical researchers gather secondary data from paper records and electronic health records (EHRs) in addition to primary data from surveys and interviews. The data included in electronic health records (EHRs) has become a crucial resource for clinical researchers as a result of its broad adoption.

The management of the gathering, storing, and analysis of patient data is known as health data management, sometimes known as clinical data management or health information management.

WHAT IS ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR)?

A systematic collection of electronic health data on specific patients or populations is what is known as an electronic health record (EHR), a concept that is still in development. It is a digital document that, in theory, may be exchanged between various healthcare facilities.

BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS

• The capacity for information to be automatically updated and shared between various offices and businesses.

• More effective retrieval and storing.

• The capacity to transfer multimedia data between sites, such as the outcomes of medical imaging.

• The capacity to connect data to current and pertinent research sources.

• Easier standardisation of patient care and services.

• The capacity to combine patient data for population health management and programmes to improve the standard of care.

• Providing healthcare professionals with decision support systems.

• Less effort duplication.

• Potentially lower long-term expenses for healthcare systems.

An electronic health record (EHR) contains the following patient health information:

• Administrative and billing data

• Patient demographics

• Progress notes

• Vital signs

• Medical histories

• Diagnoses

• Medications

• Immunization dates

• Allergies

• Radiology images

• Lab and test results

Benefits of Leveraging EHR Data for Clinical Research

Accuracy: Electronic health record (EHR) data is seen to be the ideal alternative for health research as it provides precise, real-time information such as demographics, bedside monitor trends, laboratory test results, procedures, prescriptions, carer comments, imaging reports, and mortality - for a large population of patients.

Better identifies the patient’s medical problems:EHR data makes it possible to more accurately diagnose medical conditions since it gives access to information like lab findings and vital signs that can be used to assign a diagnosis, even if one has never been established. The EHR also includes a problem list that enables the practitioner to keep track of all the patient's medical issues. Researchers can uncover problems that claims data may not be able to identify using the EMR problem list.

Rich dataset: Rich data from EHR datasets, such as test results, vital signs, patient surveys, habits (such as smoking, etc.), problem lists, etc. are available for clinical research. Such information is not present in other data sources, such as claims, but is crucial for assessing a patient's overall health state.

Scope of patients: The clinical data on every patient in a provider's group, including uninsured patients, is covered by EHR data, which is another advantage. Because of this, clinical study that attempts to enhance the general patient population's health status of a provider group must use EHR data as its source rather than claims data.

Timely data: During or shortly after the patient visit, providers input data into the electronic medical record (EMR) with the use of a medical transcribing service. As a result, the patient's medical data are generated in real time. Therefore, analysing EMR data can quickly reveal new information.

CONCLUSION

Electronic health record reduces manual work and provides efficient ways for storing and retrieving. It represents the core of future medicine and enables efficient data collecting and processing.

REFERENCES

https://www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com/blog/advantages-using-ehr-data-clinical-research/

https://www.ahu.edu/blog/health-data-management

https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/definition/electronic-health-record-EHR

Student name:Mohammad.saiena

Student Id:073/042023

Qualification:Pharm-D

E-Mail ID:mohammadsaiena@gmail.com