An information system for family practice. Part 3: gathering encounter data

Area of Science:

• Family Medicine
• Health Informatics
• Medical Record Systems

Background:

• Previous work established a method for defining family practice populations.
• A need existed for a comprehensive system to record patient encounter data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of a novel system for recording family practice encounter data.
• To integrate patient, provider, location, and problem data for analysis.

Main Methods:

• Development of a data recording system by the Department of Family Medicine, University of Western Ontario.
• Inclusion of comprehensive details for each patient encounter.
• Computer-based storage and analysis of collected data.

Main Results:

• A functional system for capturing detailed family practice encounter information has been created.
• The system collects data on patients, providers, locations, and all problems addressed during encounters.
• Data are stored and analyzed using computer technology.

Conclusions:

• The developed system provides a robust method for documenting family practice encounters.
• This system is a valuable addition to methods for defining and understanding practice populations.
• The collected data have numerous potential applications in family medicine research and practice.