Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25342178›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA2015

Electronic health records improve clinical note quality.

Harry B Burke, Laura L Sessums, Albert Hoang, Dorothy A Becher, Paul Fontelo, Fang Liu, Mark Stephens, Louis N Pangaro, Patrick G O'Malley, Nancy S Baxi and 14 more

Abstract readComparative StudyMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
33citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Delivering person-centered care with an electronic health record.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2019
    Trial
  4. An electronic documentation system improves the quality of admission notes: a randomized trial.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2017
    Trial
  5. Article
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  11. The health data utility and the resurgence of health information exchanges as a national resource.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

24 authors.

Harry B BurkeDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Laura L SessumsDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Albert HoangDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Dorothy A BecherDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Paul FonteloNational Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Fang LiuNational Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Mark StephensDepartment of Family, Medicine, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Louis N PangaroDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Patrick G O'MalleyDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Nancy S BaxiInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Christopher W BuntDepartment of Family, Medicine, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Vincent F CapaldiInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Julie M ChenInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Barbara A CooperInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
David A DjuricFt. Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, VA, USA.
Joshua A HodgeFt. Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, VA, USA.
Shawn KaneInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Charles MageeDepartment of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Zizette R MakaryInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Renee M MalloryInternal Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Thomas MillerDepartment of Family, Medicine, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Adam SapersteinDepartment of Family, Medicine, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Jessica ServeyDepartment of Family, Medicine, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Ronald W GimbelDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.

Funding

NLM's Personal Health Record and Consumer Service R&DZIALM008925 · NLM · NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE · PI MCDONALD, CLEMENT · 2009 to 2020
$11.8M
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectiveThe clinical note documents the clinician's information collection, problem assessment, clinical management, and its used for administrative purposes. Electronic health records (EHRs) are being implemented in clinical practices throughout the USA yet it is not known whether they improve the quality of clinical notes. The goal in this study was to determine if EHRs improve the quality of outpatient clinical notes. MATERIALS AND

methodsA five and a half year longitudinal retrospective multicenter quantitative study comparing the quality of handwritten and electronic outpatient clinical visit notes for 100 patients with type 2 diabetes at three time points: 6 months prior to the introduction of the EHR (before-EHR), 6 months after the introduction of the EHR (after-EHR), and 5 years after the introduction of the EHR (5-year-EHR). QNOTE, a validated quantitative instrument, was used to assess the quality of outpatient clinical notes. Its scores can range from a low of 0 to a high of 100. Sixteen primary care physicians with active practices used QNOTE to determine the quality of the 300 patient notes.

resultsThe before-EHR, after-EHR, and 5-year-EHR grand mean scores (SD) were 52.0 (18.4), 61.2 (16.3), and 80.4 (8.9), respectively, and the change in scores for before-EHR to after-EHR and before-EHR to 5-year-EHR were 18% (p<0.0001) and 55% (p<0.0001), respectively. All the element and grand mean quality scores significantly improved over the 5-year time interval.

conclusionsThe EHR significantly improved the overall quality of the outpatient clinical note and the quality of all its elements, including the core and non-core elements. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that the EHR significantly improves the quality of clinical notes.

Indexed as

Electronic Health RecordsHumansLongitudinal StudiesMedical RecordsRetrospective Studiesclinical noteclinical qualityelectronic health recordnote qualityQNOTE

Identifiers

PMID25342178
PMCPMC4433367

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.