The General Practice Research Network: the capabilities of an electronic patient management system for longitudinal...

To evaluate the potential of a general practice research database derived directly from de-identified electronic medical records to provide national prescribing data in Australia. To observe the utilisation of a computer-based patient management system over time. To evaluate the impact of the research network participation on data quality in participants' electronic records.

A random sample of 297 general practitioners (GPs) from 128 practices provided longitudinal patient data from electronic medical records (using Medical Director software) retrospectively from 1 January 1999 to April 2002. The General Practice Research Network (GPRN) database contains approximately 600,000 patients, representing over 4 million prescriptions from 4 million encounters. The quality and representativeness of data for prescribing, morbidity and software usage were evaluated by comparison with National data.

Older GPs (> 55) were under-represented, perhaps due to lower computer usage rates, but patient visits were similar to the national distribution. Over time, there were increases in: the quality of prescribing data (with reason for visit/prescription being compulsorily recorded); recording of non-prescribing visits; and the use of other features of the electronic patient management software.

Data derived from electronic general practice records is of sufficient quality to be used to provide national prescribing estimates and has potential value for pharmacoepidemiology and population health monitoring. Such longitudinal data has previously been unavailable in Australia. Monitoring of software usage demonstrates the evolution of the Australian GP user and will be increasingly useful in assessing and improving the quality of electronic medical records.