A clinical reminder information system: Improving the quality of patient care

The increased demand for computerization in the healthcare industry has resulted in the development of a computerized patient medical record. Computerized patient medical records have reduced the fragmentation between paper medical records and the computerized medical records, the missed clinical testing, the illegible handwritten documentation problems, and the missed clinical interventions. For this field project, the researcher has taken one of the major components of the computerized patient medical record called the clinical reminder information system or CRIS and redesigned the program format to meet the specialized needs and interventions for disease categories involving our patient population. The CRIS is used to alert clinical providers, as in this case with the Veteran Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, that necessary clinical interventions are required for patient treatment. The purpose of this research study was to determine if the implementation of the CRIS program had demonstrated improvement in the quality of patient care given to Veteran Affairs' patients.; In order to do this, the researcher utilized both qualitative and ethnographic research tools, including structured interviews, questionnaires, and a software tracking program as a means to interview clinical providers as to whether there was a positive intervention with the implementation of the CRIS program. The analysis of the information collected from the series of interviews revealed the followings findings on the CRIS program: (1) An increase in the roles and responsibilities of the clinical providers; (2) An improved tracking method for clinical interventions that replaced the less functional paper tracking system; (3) A reduction or elimination of lost or misunderstood clinical information that resulted from illegible handwriting; (4) A plan to alert providers that special clinical interventions were required which resulted in reducing or eliminating missed clinical interventions.; In summation, this field project provided an opportunity to examine the CRIS program as a systematic approach to the improvement of patient care in the Veteran Affairs' patient network. The program also provided a better means of monitoring clinical interventions as they related to specific medical conditions.