title: Nursing informatics and data collection from the electronic medical record: Study of characteristics, factors and occupancy impacting outcomes of critical care admissions from the Emergency Department.
abstract: When collecting data from a single electronic medical record (EMR), few studies of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients admitted directly from an Emergency Department (ED) focus on observational methodologies examining occupancy of both the ICU and the ED, and population characteristics. This quantitative study design and analysis, with a sample size of 1433 cases using regression techniques, suggested odds of mortality were more likely with a higher ICU occupancy/census and if uninsured. There was no statistical difference based on ED occupancy/census at time of decision to admit to an ICU and no difference whether admitted on a weekend or weekday. Inpatient ICU occupancy is one of the variables that impacts waiting time and overcrowding in the ED, and, in this study, inpatient occupancy in the ICUs impacted patient outcomes. As all healthcare providers make up the interprofessional team and work within complex systems, ease of retrieval of EMR data can hasten decision support to improve quality outcomes.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, Rockville, MD, USA. kclar006@son.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Loretta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Normile
mesh_terms: D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D016015:Logistic Models; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D048108:Nursing Informatics; D015588:Observer Variation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014850:Waiting Lists