Evidence mapPaperPMID 30558573Full record

SynthesisBMC emergency medicine2018

Strategies for improving physician documentation in the emergency department: a systematic review.

Diane L Lorenzetti, Hude Quan, Kelsey Lucyk, Ceara Cunningham, Deirdre Hennessy, Jason Jiang, Cynthia A Beck

Open access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC emergency medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
17.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. A fiscally sound, evidenced-based solution to conquering the complexity of physician billing guidelines: A physician-centric note template.Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia · 2025
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Observational
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Addressing Note Bloat: Solutions for Effective Clinical Documentation.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2025
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Diane L LorenzettiDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada. dllorenz@ucalgary.ca.ORCID 0000-0001-8423-3458
Hude QuanDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
Kelsey LucykDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
Ceara CunninghamDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
Deirdre HennessyDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
Jason JiangDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
Cynthia A BeckDepartment of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N4N1, Canada.
University of Calgary · CA

Funding

CIHR 111753
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPhysician chart documentation can facilitate patient care decisions, reduce treatment errors, and inform health system planning and resource allocation activities. Although accurate and complete patient chart data supports quality and continuity of patient care, physician documentation often varies in terms of timeliness, legibility, clarity and completeness. While many educational and other approaches have been implemented in hospital settings, the extent to which these interventions can improve the quality of documentation in emergency departments (EDs) is unknown.

methodsWe conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of approaches to improve ED physician documentation. Peer reviewed electronic databases, grey literature sources, and reference lists of included studies were searched to March 2015. Studies were included if they reported on outcomes associated with interventions designed to enhance the quality of physician documentation.

resultsNineteen studies were identified that report on the effectiveness of interventions to improve physician documentation in EDs. Interventions included audit/feedback, dictation, education, facilitation, reminders, templates, and multi-interventions. While ten studies found that audit/feedback, dictation, pharmacist facilitation, reminders, templates, and multi-pronged approaches did improve the quality of physician documentation across multiple outcome measures, the remaining nine studies reported mixed results.

conclusionsPromising approaches to improving physician documentation in emergency department settings include audit/feedback, reminders, templates, and multi-pronged education interventions. Future research should focus on exploring the impact of implementing these interventions in EDs with and without emergency medical record systems (EMRs), and investigating the potential of emerging technologies, including EMR-based machine-learning, to promote improvements in the quality of ED documentation.

Indexed as

Emergency Service, HospitalPhysician's RoleQuality ImprovementDocumentationMedical RecordsDocumentationEmergency departmentsMedical recordsPhysiciansSystematic reviews

Identifiers

PMID30558573
PMCPMC6297955
OpenAlexW2904599731

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.