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Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) assist clinicians with patient diagnosis and treatment. However, inadequate attention has been paid to the process of selecting and buying systems. The diversity of CDSSs, coupled with research obstacles, marketplace limitations, and legal impediments, has thwarted comparative outcome studies and reduced the availability of reliable information and advice for purchasers. We review these limitations and recommend several comparative studies, which were conducted in phases; studies [...]

Radiology reports are usually narrative, unstructured text, a format which hinders the ability to input report contents into decision support systems. In addition, reports often describe multiple lesions, and it is challenging to automatically extract information on each lesion and its relationships to characteristics, anatomic locations, and other information that describes it. The goal of our work is to develop natural language processing (NLP) methods to recognize each lesion in [...]

To improve the accuracy of mining structured and unstructured components of the electronic medical record (EMR) by adding temporal features to automatically identify patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with methotrexate-induced liver transaminase abnormalities.

To evaluate the contribution of the MEDication Indication (MEDI) resource and SemRep for identifying treatment relations in clinical text.

Our aim was to uncover unrecognized phenomic relationships using force-based network visualization methods, based on observed electronic medical record data. A primary phenotype was defined from actual patient profiles in the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care II database. Network visualizations depicting primary relationships were compared to those incorporating secondary adjacencies. Interactivity was enabled through a phenotype visualization software concept: the Phenomics Advisor. Subendocardial infarction with cardiac arrest was demonstrated [...]

An increasing number of healthcare providers are adopting patient safety event reporting systems, yet leveraging these data to improve safety remains a challenge, particularly with large datasets composed of thousands of event reports. A MedStar Health research team, with expertise in data analytics and human factors, developed intuitive visualization dashboards to facilitate data exploration and trend analysis. Dashboards were developed using an iterative design and development process that was end-user [...]

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is expected to oversee creation of a Health Information Technology (HIT) Safety Center. While its functions are still being defined, the center is envisioned as a public-private entity focusing on promotion of HIT related patient safety. We propose that the HIT Safety Center leverages its unique position to work with key administrative and policy stakeholders, healthcare organizations (HCOs), and HIT [...]

Despite substantial investments in health information technology (HIT), the nation's goals of reducing cost and improving outcomes through HIT remain elusive. This period of transition, with new Office of National Coordinator for HIT leadership, upcoming Meaningful Use Stage III definitions, and increasing congressional oversight, is opportune to consider needed course corrections in HIT strategy. This article describes current problems and recommended changes in HIT policy, including approaches to usability, interoperability [...]

To analyze the completeness, computability, and accuracy of specifications for five National Quality Forum-specified (NQF) eMeasures spanning ambulatory, post-discharge, and emergency care within a comprehensive, integrated electronic health record (EHR) environment.

To develop and evaluate an electronic dashboard of hospital-wide electronic health record medication alerts for an alert fatigue reduction quality improvement project.