Estimated financial savings associated with health information exchange and ambulatory care referral
Journal of Biomedical Informatics
Health Information Exchange and Healthcare Utilization
Journal of Medical Systems
The Impact of Inpatient Boarding on ED Efficiency: A Discrete-Event Simulation Study
Journal of Medical Systems
Recovery at the edge of error: Debunking the myth of the infallible expert
Journal of Biomedical Informatics
An Application of Business Process Method to the Clinical Efficiency of Hospital
Journal of Medical Systems
Information as Change Agent or Barrier in Health Care Reform?
International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics
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Many medical organizations have deployed electronic medical record (EMR) information systems (IS) to improve medical decision-making and increase efficiency. Despite their advantages, however, EMR IS may make less of a contribution in the stressful environment of an emergency department (ED) that operates under tight time constraints. The high level of crowdedness in the EDs itself can cause physicians to make medical decisions resulting in more unnecessary admissions and fewer necessary admissions. Thus this study evaluated the contribution of an EMR IS to physicians by investigating whether EMR IS leads to improved medical outcomes in points of care in EDs under different levels of crowdedness. For this purpose a track log-file analysis of a database containing 3.2 million ED referrals in seven main hospitals in Israel (the whole population in these hospitals) was conducted. The findings suggest that viewing medical history via the EMR IS leads to better admission decisions, and reduces the number of possibly avoidable single-day admissions. Furthermore, although the ED can be very stressful especially on crowded days, physicians used EMR IS more on crowded days than on non-crowded days. These results have implications as regards the viability of EMR IS in complex, fast-paced environments.