The effects of electronic health record on the flow of information - a pilot study

Papery or electrical data processing tools are used for documenting, transmitting, evaluating, recording and archiving patient data. An implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) is a complex and multi-dimensional entity. There is a need to ensure that the impact of EHR is fully evaluated. For systematic evaluation of the Hospital Information System is developed and tested a HIS-monitor (Ammenwerth et al 2007, 2011). HIS-monitor testing is one part of the evaluation study of the implementation of EHR at the Satakunta Hospital District (SHD) in Finland. With 2500 health care professionals SHD produces specialized medical care services for 226 000 residents. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of EHR on the flow of information. The study design is before and after of EHR system implementation. At the pilot phase the survey material was collected and the HIS-monitor questionnaire was tested. Results show that current data processing tools do not support enough the flow of information. Results were used in further development of HIS-monitor.