Supportive care pathway functionalities of EHR system in a Saudi Arabian hospital.

BACKGROUND: Electronic health record (EHR) is a data management system used in healthcare services. The stored medical information in EHR can be accessed and utilized by authorized users, which helps clinicians in making clinical decisions. Therefore, this study aims at comparing the embedded clinical guidelines or the supportive pathway functions as well as their compliance level in the two EMR systems, i.e. QuadraMed (QCPR) and BestCare.

METHODS: A test vignette was used to evaluate the features, functions, performance, and output to assess the EHR clinical path way functionality of the QCPR and BestCare. The study was based on interview and discussion, followed by actual system testing.

RESULTS: The results of the evaluation showed that the overall total score of QuadraMed and BESTCare systems supportive care pathway functions were 44.4% and 68.9%, respectively. BestCare is set to replace QCPR in all King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMCS) hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS: Embedding clinical decision support system into EMRs improved clinician performance and facilitated quality of care. However, further investigation of the BESTCare is highly recommended to utilize and fulfill the basic demands of the supportive care pathway functions in King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) hospitals.