Electronic health record systems that are not "fully functional" could result in longer patient stays in the emergency department, according to a study published in the journal Medical Care Research and Review, The Hill's "Healthwatch" reports.
For the study, researchers from Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business analyzed the results of a 2006 survey that included records for about 30,000 patient visits to 364 U.S. hospitals (Pecquet, "Healthwatch," The Hill, 8/18).
Findings
According to the results, patients with urgent or semi-urgent problems who received care at an ED with a basic EHR system experienced a 47% longer wait time than those visiting EDs with minimal or no EHR systems.
The researchers found that patients who sought care at hospital EDs that had a fully functional EHR system experienced a 22% shorter length of stay and a 13% shorter treatment time than patients who visited EDs that had minimal or no EHR systems.
Among the facilities included in the study, researchers noted that:
- Only 1.7% of EDs included in the survey had fully functional systems;
- 10.8% of EDs had a "basic" EHR system; and
- Nearly 88% of EDs had minimal or no EHR systems.
Conclusions
The discrepancy in wait times could reflect a learning curve, suggesting that hospitals with fully functional systems have been using EHRs longer than those that use basic systems.
Michael Furukawa -- study author and assistant professor at W.P. Carey -- explained that partial EHR adoption might "actually increase the time spent on a computer -- a doctor might be looking for a paper chart containing one piece of information and logging on for another -- so the process is not optimal."
The study authors also noted that better wait times in EDs with advanced EHRs could be contingent on their location, as these hospitals were more likely to be in urban and affluent areas (Hobson, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/18).