Electronic health records improve the quality of care in underserved populations: a literature review.

Organizations in underserved settings are implementing or upgrading electronic health records (EHRs) in hopes of improving quality and meeting Federal goals for meaningful use of EHRs. However, much of the research that has been conducted on health information technology does not study use in underserved settings, or does not include EHRs. We conducted a structured literature search of MEDLINE to find articles supporting the contention that EHRs improve quality in underserved settings.

Evaluating information prescriptions in two clinical environments.

Objective: The research sought to evaluate whether providing personalized information services by libraries can improve satisfaction with information services for specific types of patients.

Methods: Adult breast cancer (BrCa) clinic patients and mothers of inpatient neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients were randomized to receive routine information services (control) or an IRx intervention.

Results: The BrCa trial randomized 211 patients and the NICU trial, 88 mothers.

Publications and presentations resulting from required research by students at Mayo Medical School, 1976-2003.

Purpose: To determine the research productivity related to required research experiences during medical school.

Method: The authors studied the research productivity of the 998 graduates at Mayo Medical School who had participated in a required third-year medical school research experience (21, 18, or 17 weeks long) between 1976 and 2003. Outcomes were verified published research reports and abstracts, and presentations at scientific meetings.