Implementing Pediatric Growth Charts into an Electronic Health Record System
- S Trent Rosenbloom,
- XiaoFeng Qi,
- William R Riddle,
- William E Russell,
- Susan C DonLevy,
- Dario Giuse,
- Aileen B Sedman,
- S Andrew Spooner
- Affiliations of the authors: Departments of Biomedical Informatics (STR, XFQ, DG), Pediatrics (STR, WER, SCD), Radiology and Radiological Sciences (WRR), and Cell and Developmental Biology (WER), School of Nursing (STR), Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN; University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI (ABS); Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, TN (SAS)
- Correspondence and reprints: S. Trent Rosenbloom, MD, MPH, Eskind Biomedical Library, Room 440, 2209 Garland Avenue, Nashville, TN 37232-8340; e-mail: <trent.rosenbloom{at}vanderbilt.edu>
- Received 25 August 2005
- Accepted 11 January 2006
Abstract
Electronic health record (EHR) systems are increasingly being adopted in pediatric practices; however, requirements for integrated growth charts are poorly described and are not standardized in current systems. The authors integrated growth chart functionality into an EHR system being developed and installed in a multispecialty pediatric clinic in an academic medical center. During a three-year observation period, rates of electronically documented values for weight, stature, and head circumference increased from fewer than ten total per weekday, up to 488 weight values, 293 stature values, and 74 head circumference values (p < 0.001 for each measure). By the end of the observation period, users accessed the growth charts an average 175 times per weekday, compared to 127 patient visits per weekday to the sites that most closely monitored pediatric growth. Because EHR systems and integrated growth charts can manipulate data, perform calculations, and adapt to user preferences and patient characteristics, users may expect greater functionality from electronic growth charts than from paper-based growth charts.
Footnotes
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The project was supported by the Vanderbilt Physician Scientist Development Program and by a grant from the United States National Library of Medicine (1K22 LM008576-01). The authors appreciate the assistance of Elizabeth Madsen in the preparation of this manuscript.
