Electronic Health Record-Enabled Research in Children Using the Electronic Health Record for Clinical Discovery

Scott M Sutherland; David C Kaelber; N Lance Downing; Veena V Goel; Christopher A Longhurst

doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2015.12.002

Electronic Health Record-Enabled Research in Children Using the Electronic Health Record for Clinical Discovery

Pediatr Clin North Am. 2016 Apr;63(2):251-68. doi: 10.1016/j.pcl.2015.12.002.

Authors

Scott M Sutherland¹, David C Kaelber², N Lance Downing³, Veena V Goel⁴, Christopher A Longhurst⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room G-306, Stanford, CA 94304, USA; Department of Clinical Informatics, Stanford Children's Health, 1265 Welch Road, MSOB XIC65A, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: suthersm@stanford.edu.
² Departments of Information Services, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Center for Clinical Informatics Research and Education, The MetroHealth System, Case Western Reserve University, 2500 MetroHeatlh Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109, USA.
³ Department of Clinical Informatics, Stanford Children's Health, 1265 Welch Road, MSOB XIC65A, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room G-306, Stanford, CA 94304, USA; Department of Clinical Informatics, Stanford Children's Health, 1265 Welch Road, MSOB XIC65A, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Informatics, UC San Diego School of Medicine, 9560 Towne Centre Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.

PMID: 27017033
DOI: 10.1016/j.pcl.2015.12.002

Abstract

Initially described more than 50 years ago, electronic health records (EHRs) are now becoming ubiquitous throughout pediatric health care settings. The confluence of increased EHR implementation and the exponential growth of digital data within them, the development of clinical informatics tools and techniques, and the growing workforce of experienced EHR users presents new opportunities to use EHRs to augment clinical discovery and improve pediatric patient care. This article reviews the basic concepts surrounding EHR-enabled research and clinical discovery, including the types and fidelity of EHR data elements, EHR data validation/corroboration, and the steps involved in analytical interrogation.

Keywords: Children; Clinical discovery; EHR; EMR; Electronic health record; Electronic medical record; Research.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research*
Child
Electronic Health Records*
Humans
Medical Informatics*