title: The perception of medical professionals and medical students on the usefulness of an emergency medical card and a continuity of care report in enhancing continuity of care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the medical professionals and medical students perceived usefulness of an emergency medical card (EMC) and a continuity of care (CoC) report, in enhancing CoC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study reviewers included medical professionals from outpatient clinics at Intermountain Healthcare and fourth-year medical students from the University of Utah. Three cases we randomly extracted from a database of patients who had added new care information at the time. EMCs and CoC reports were populated for the cases, and information then de-identified. Using patient information in the electronic medical record (EMR), reviewers evaluated if the EMR information was adequate to support medical decisions made on the patient's diagnosis, medications, laboratory tests, and disposition. The reviewer assessed if the EMC and CoC report information would influence the medical decisions made. An online survey was used to assess the reviewers' perception on the usefulness of the two documents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, 94% of the reviewers perceived the EMC to be useful in enhancing medical decision making at the point of care, and 74% found the CoC report to be useful. More specifically, the two documents were found to be useful in decreasing encounter time (100% each), increasing overall knowledge of healthcare providers (100% each), influencing decision on the treatment (94% each), and new laboratory test orders (87% and 90%, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EMC and CoC report were found to be useful methods for transporting patient healthcare information across the healthcare continuum. The documents were found more specifically to be useful for effective decision making, improving efficiency and quality of care, at the point of care.
authors.affiliation: University of Utah, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. c_olola@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Christopher H O
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Olola
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narus
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nebeker
authors.forename: Mollie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poynton
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hales
authors.forename: Belle
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: LeSieur
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zumbrennen
authors.forename: Annemarie A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: Spencer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amundsen
authors.forename: Yasmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kabir
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Atkin
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Newberry
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Tariq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hanifi
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Risenmay
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.forename: R Scott
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult