For this assignment, consider the following scenario: Your organization, a large outpatient treatment center in a major metropolitan area, just implemented an EHR system. The system does one of three things (pick one, your choice): Provides clinical decision support (CDS) to providers based on patient records/history/medications/etc. --OR-- Provides personalized health hints and educational information to patients based on patient records/history in the system as well as patient-generated data from devices (this option will be the hardest one!). --OR-- Takes free text (the regular "notes" written in paragraphs) from patient records, analyzes them using natural language processing, and then automatically converts free text notes into ICD-10 diagnoses and medication lists. What you need to do: Propose and detail an evaluation of this system. Things to consider to help you out: What makes a good EMR system, and what makes an EMR fail For each 'what', How you would measure how good or bad the EMR system is For each 'how', Benchmark the ideal measurement Paper specifications: The paper must use scientific writing (or technical writing) conventions. A good guide is the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual, which is available at the library. See below for 20 minutes tutorial:http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx, and (Links to an external site.)APA Citation Guide. Preview the document This is an individual assignment. Teamwork is not permitted in writing or work on the paper. The paper may be a maximum of 12 pages, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and size 12 Times New Roman or size 11 Arial font. The title page and references do not count toward the page limit. A minimum of 7-9 double-spaced pages are expected to adequately cover most topics. The paper must use and cite appropriate scholarly literature and other publications of acceptable quality. 6 or more total references from any peer or editor reviewed source, including newspapers, magazines, online professional resource sites, and corporate (NOT individual) blogs. This means you will almost certainly have to find your own references online! Course-based readings, if they fit these criteria, can also be used, so feel free to use our module readings as a library if you wish. Recommended Structure. The following structure is strongly recommended. Word counts are approximate. Abstract - 250 words maximum, summarize your evaluation, no citations. This might be at the beginning, but is the very last thing that you write! Introduction & Background (~500-750 words) Briefly discuss your chosen EHR system component Define it Advantages Discuss factors and problems commonly encountered in your chosen EHR component Proposed Methods & Benchmarks (~750-1000 words): What would you like to evaluate? How would you measure it? What benchmarks do you suggest for these measurements? Phase I (immediately after implementation) Phase II (12 months after implementation of the EHR system) Conclusion & Discussion (~300-500 words) Reference Bibliography (APA style) All evaluation methods must be concrete. Please read the bottom section of this page to learn more about what we mean by 'concrete'. About Concrete Evaluation Methods & Measures. Although you've got the freedom to invent your own evaluation methods and measures, every method and measure you propose in your evaluation must be concrete. For our purposes, that means the method and measure must be specific, directly observable, and be able to be captured (recorded) and the measure compared to a benchmark goal. Things you can consider: Many concrete measures are quantitative (meaning, result in a number). The number is then compared to a benchmark goal. Not really a good example: "Within 5 days of initial system installation, CPOE orders must be stored digitally." Good example: "Within 5 days of initial system installation, at least 75% of CPOE orders must be stored digitally." Qualitative methods can also be concrete because they can be quantitated into "yes/no/[maybe]" answers. Qualitative methods typically need some inventive detail. NOT concrete: "If most physicians want to adopt the new EHR system, then the benchmark is met." Concrete Evaluation: "Administer a single question survey to physicians that asks them 'Would you be interested in this new EHR system?' after handing them the brochures. Benchmark: The benchmark is reached if at least 50% of all physicians answer 'yes' or 'maybe' to that question." NOT concrete: "If the system stays up for 6 months, the benchmark is met." Concrete Evaluation: "Check the system logs for outages over the first 6 months. Benchmark: If there is no outage, the benchmark is met." Surveys might exist online for what you're trying to measure. If you can find one that's peer or editor reviewed, then you should consider using it. Again, you might need to be inventive. Often for your goals, no benchmark has ever been published for what you're looking for and you will need to speculate/guess, and that is just fine. Try benchmarks used in similar situations, even outside HIT. Any source, including your own guess, is okay.