Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Health Care Processes and Decision Making
Lecture:The clinical process - overview of the classic paradigm
Gathering data and analyzing findings
Making a diagnosis
The impact of EHRs and technology on clinical decision-making
Slide content:Types of Information Information Type Information Characteristics Sources Patient data Refers to one person Patient , family, records, observation Population statistics Aggregated patient data Colleagues , public health department, EHR Medical knowledge Generalizable to many persons Textbooks , journal articles, MEDLINE Logistic information How to get things done People , policy, procedure, and insurance companies Social influence How others get the job done Observe and discuss with colleagues 4.1 Table: Types of information that clinicians utilize when making decisions 7
Slide notes:Clinicians use many different types of information while assessing and managing patients. The table lists five types of information that clinicians commonly use. The first type of information is patient data, or information thats specific to an individual person, such as whether he or she has allergies, a history of diabetes, or a heart murmur. This information can be obtained from various sources: the patient, the patients family or friends, medical records, the patients personal health record, and/or the clinicians own observations while conducting the history and physical examination. Relevant patient information also may be electronically obtained through access to another health system provider or a health information exchange. The second type of information is population statistics, which is data that has been aggregated [ ag - ri - geyt-ed ] from individual patients. One version of population statistics is a clinicians informal knowledge of recent local history, such as recent flu outbreaks or a resurgence of whooping [ hoo -ping] cough, which may be relevant to the findings in a particular case. A more formal version of population statistics might be a public health department publication about the frequency of diseases in a particular locale or a population-based report obtained from a clinics or hospitals EHR system. The third type of information is medical knowledgethe rules or conclusions about health and health care that are relevant not just to the individual patient but are generalizable to many persons. This information may be obtained from textbooks, whether electronic or in print form; from reviews in journal articles; or from the medical literature. The fourth type of information, which is surprisingly useful for clinicians, is called logistic information . It focuses on how to get things done rather than on what to do. For example, the question isnt whether a particular medication is indicated for a particular patient, but how to obtain that medication or how to get it paid for; it isnt whether a particular type of surgery is indicated for a patient, but which surgeon is available to perform it and how he or she may be reached. This type of information may be available from informal sources, such as the organizational knowledge of staff in the clinic or hospital, or formal sources, such as policy and procedure manuals, directories, and other institutional documents. The insurance companies play a key role in care logistics, for example, by identifying preferred physicians and health care providers, covered and non-covered services, and other non-clinically based community services. The fifth type of information that physicians often use is called social influence , or the impact of others job performance on the clinicians decisions. Clinicians may not always conform exactly to the practices of others, but in general they like to know how other clinicians are managing particular problems and whether their own practices align relatively well with those of others. In studying clinicians and their reasoning and decision-making processes, its helpful to remember that all of these types of information may be brought to bear at various stages of the process. 7