Presenting patient data in the electronic care record: the role of timelines

To establish the current level of awareness and investigate the use of timelines within clinical computing systems as an organized display of the electronic patient record (EPR).

Multicentre survey conducted using questionnaires and interview.

Seven UK hospitals and several general practice surgeries.

A total of 120 healthcare professionals completed a questionnaire which directed structured interviews. Participants fell into two cohorts according to whether or not they had used clinical timelines, which gave 60 'timeline users' and 60 'prospective timeline users'.

To investigate the awareness of timelines, and the potential benefits of timelines within clinical computing systems.

Fifty-eight percent of participants had not heard of the specific term 'timelines' despite 75% of users utilizing a form of timeline on a daily basis. The potential benefits of future timelines were clinical audit (95%CI 77.6-91.6), increased time efficiency (95%CI 77.7-91.6%), reduced clinical error (95%CI 71.0-86.7) and improved patient safety (95%CI 70.0-85.9). One continuous timeline view between primary and secondary care was considered to be of great potential benefit in allowing communication via a unified patient record.

The concept of timelines has enjoyed proven success in healthcare in the USA and in other sectors worldwide. Clinicians are supportive of timelines in healthcare. Formal input from clinicians should be sought when designing and implementing computer systems in healthcare. Timelines in healthcare support clinicians' cognitive processes by improving the amount of data available and improving the way in which data are presented.