Access approval, data interpretation and electronic health record personnel collaboration all pose as obstacles for using EHR data for patient safety research, according to EHR Intelligence.
Here is more information on the three obstacles:
1. Access approval: Many institutions deny remote access to EHR data for research purposes, likely to limit any cybersecurity threats. However, if approved by the institutional board, healthcare providers should feel comfortable loosening some security protocols for research teams.
2. Data interpretation: Due to an absence of structured data, researchers often face a great amount of messy information. If the healthcare industry created data standards, research would prove more effective. Also, EHR data transcription becomes an issue if all information is exported in a PDF format. In this case, researchers have to manually transcribe the data into their own systems.
3. Coordination: Since most IT teams are focused on their own projects, research teams often find it difficult to get any of the IT personnel to help them with their projects.
