title: Case report medical eponyms: an applied clinical informatics opportunity.
abstract: Medical eponyms are medical words derived from people's names. Eponyms, especially similar sounding eponyms, may be confusing to people trying to use them because the terms themselves do not contain physiologically descriptive words about the condition they refer to. Through the use of electronic health records (EHRs), embedded applied clinical informatics tools including synonyms and pick lists that include physiologically descriptive terms associated with any eponym appearing in the EHR can significantly enhance the correct use of medical eponyms. Here we describe a case example of two similar sounding medical eponyms--Wegener's disease and Wegner's disease-- which were confused in our EHR. We describe our solution to address this specific example and our suggestions and accomplishments developing more generalized approaches to dealing with medical eponyms in EHRs. Integrating brief physiologically descriptive terms with medical eponyms provides an applied clinical informatics opportunity to improve patient care.
authors: Department of Information Systems, The MetroHealth System and School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH, USA.
authors: L N Guptha Munugoor
authors: LN
authors: Baskaran
authors: P J
authors: PJ
authors: Greco
authors: D C
authors: DC
authors: Kaelber
mesh_terms: D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards*; D004850:Eponyms; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D009626:Terminology as Topic
keywords: Medical eponyms; electronic health records; integrated clinical decision support; patient safety; system improvement
references: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2008 Apr 11;57(14):373-6
references: 18401332
references: Rheumatology (Oxford). 2006 Nov;45(11):1328-30
references: 16920748
references: Acta Orthop Belg. 2005 Feb;71(1):1-8
references: 15792200
references: J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Jan-Feb;16(1):18-24
references: 18952940
references: J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Jan-Feb;16(1):140-2
references: 18952943
references: BMJ. 2007 Sep 1;335(7617):424
references: 17762033
references: BMJ. 2007 Sep 1;335(7617):425
references: 17762034