ArticleJMIR medical informatics2022
Prevalence of Sensitive Terms in Clinical Notes Using Natural Language Processing Techniques: Observational Study.
Article in JMIR medical informatics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- A multi-metric evaluation of readability in psychiatric discharge summaries.BioData mining · 2026Article
- Identification of Child Survivors of Sex Trafficking From Electronic Health Records: An Artificial Intelligence Guided Approach.Child maltreatment · 2024Article
- Guiding Principles for Adolescent Web-Based Portal Access Policies: Interviews With Informatics Administrators.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2024Article
- Variation in pediatric and adolescent electronic health data sharing practices under the 21st Century Cures Act.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023Article
- Engaging Adolescents in Using Online Patient Portals.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- A Natural Language Processing Model to Identify Confidential Content in Adolescent Clinical Notes.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWith the increased sharing of electronic health information as required by the US 21st Century Cures Act, there is an increased risk of breaching patient, parent, or guardian confidentiality. The prevalence of sensitive terms in clinical notes is not known.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to define sensitive terms that represent the documentation of content that may be private and determine the prevalence and characteristics of provider notes that contain sensitive terms.
methodsUsing keyword expansion, we defined a list of 781 sensitive terms. We searched all provider history and physical, progress, consult, and discharge summary notes for patients aged 0-21 years written between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, for a direct string match of sensitive terms. We calculated the prevalence of notes with sensitive terms and characterized clinical encounters and patient characteristics.
resultsSensitive terms were present in notes from every clinical context in all pediatric ages. Terms related to the mental health category were most used overall (254,975/1,338,297, 19.5%), but terms related to substance abuse and reproductive health were most common in patients aged 0-3 years. History and physical notes (19,854/34,771, 57.1%) and ambulatory progress notes (265,302/563,273, 47.1%) were most likely to include sensitive terms. The highest prevalence of notes with sensitive terms was found in pain management (950/1112, 85.4%) and child abuse (1092/1282, 85.2%) clinics.
conclusionsNotes containing sensitive terms are not limited to adolescent patients, specific note types, or certain specialties. Recognition of sensitive terms across all ages and clinical settings complicates efforts to protect patient and caregiver privacy in the era of information-blocking regulations.
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