Stop the pediatric obesity epidemic: Is the EMR a solution to alert providers

Introduction: Weight management is an unrelenting issue affecting people of all ages. Addressing weight management is among the priority health concerns in the United States. Evidence suggests that some health providers are not recognizing or managing patients' weight management issues. The electronic medical record and automation may help providers recognize pediatric individuals with abnormal weight.;Methods: A multi-site family medicine clinic instituted a pediatric Body Mass Index [BMI] alert in the electronic medical record. This alert triggered when abnormal weights were entered and allowed the providers to address the trigger. Eighteen providers from the Pacific Northwest accepted the invitation to participate in this evaluation study that used a mixed methods approach to explore the providers' attitudes towards the automation. Participants completed the HIT User Satisfaction Survey and two opened ended questions.;Findings: The median time providers had been in practice was 16.7 years and the majority of providers were physicians. More than 82% indicated that adjusting to the new workflow was easy while one-third felt the process was difficult to learn. Three quarters of the sample felt no improvement in the accuracy of automatically charting obesity compare to manual charting. Yet, more than 90% were very accepting of the alert. By a factor of two-to-one, providers felt the new tool was helpful. Most providers themselves provided nutritional counseling when indicated with fewer using outside resources.;Conclusions: An overwhelming majority of providers reported the alert as useful and that it should require provider acknowledgement prior to closing the patients chart. Assisting with provider recognition and diagnoses of overweight and obese pediatric patients is a small step toward improving obesity along with the overall health of patients. Electronic identification of abnormal weights should be further explored.