An Interdisciplinary Approach to Reducing Errors in Extracted Electronic Health Record Data for Research

Erroneous electronic health record (EHR) data capture is a barrier to preserving data integrity. We assessed the impact of an interdisciplinary process in minimizing EHR data loss from prescription orders. We implemented a three-step approach to reduce data loss due to missing medication doses: Step 1-A data analyst updated the request code to optimize data capture; Step 2-A pharmacist and physician identified variations in EHR prescription workflows; and Step 3-The clinician team determined daily doses for patients with multiple prescriptions in the same encounter. The initial report contained 1421 prescriptions, with 377 (26.5 percent) missing dosages. Missing dosages reduced to 361 (26.3 percent) prescriptions following Step 1, and twenty-three (1.7 percent) records after Step 2. After Step 3, 1210 prescriptions remained, including 16 (1.3 percent) prescriptions missing doses. Prescription data is susceptible to missing values due to multiple data capture workflows. Our approach minimized data loss, improving its validity in retrospective research.