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To foster informed decision-making about health social networking (SN) by patients and clinicians, the authors evaluated the quality/safety of SN sites' policies and practices.

Case report forms (CRFs) are used for structured-data collection in clinical research studies. Existing CRF-related standards encompass structural features of forms and data items, content standards, and specifications for using terminologies. This paper reviews existing standards and discusses their current limitations. Because clinical research is highly protocol-specific, forms-development processes are more easily standardized than is CRF content. Tools that support retrieval and reuse of existing items will enable standards adoption [...]

Serious medication errors occur commonly in the period after hospital discharge. Medication reconciliation in the postdischarge ambulatory setting may be one way to reduce the frequency of these errors. The authors describe the design and implementation of a novel tool built into an ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) to facilitate postdischarge medication reconciliation. The tool compares the preadmission medication list within the ambulatory EMR to the hospital discharge medication list [...]

A full-text search engine can be a useful tool for augmenting the reuse value of unstructured narrative data stored in electronic health records (EHR). A prominent barrier to the effective utilization of such tools originates from users' lack of search expertise and/or medical-domain knowledge. To mitigate the issue, the authors experimented with a 'collaborative search' feature through a homegrown EHR search engine that allows users to preserve their search knowledge [...]

Application of user-centred design principles to Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems may improve task efficiency, usability or safety, but there is limited evaluative research of its impact on CPOE systems.

To examine variation in the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) functionalities and their use patterns, barriers to adoption, and perceived benefits by physician practice size.

Clinical guideline adherence for diagnostic imaging (DI) and acceptance of electronic decision support in a rural community family practice clinic was assessed over 36 weeks. Physicians wrote 904 DI orders, 58% of which were addressed by the Canadian Association of Radiologists guidelines.

To model how individual violations in routine clinical processes cumulatively contribute to the risk of adverse events in hospital using an agent-based simulation framework.

To evaluate the accuracy of a computerized clinical decision-support system (CDSS) designed to support assessment and management of pediatric asthma in a subspecialty clinic.