electronic health records

June 9, 2021

Award recognizes hands-on contributions to health IT at VUMC

Chetan Aher, MD, assistant professor of Surgery, and Wael Alrifai, MD, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics, are the inaugural winners of the Physician Builder Award, sponsored by the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC). They received trophies made from Lego building blocks and gift certificates.

By Paul Govern
June 3, 2021

Predictive model identifies patients for genetic testing

Patients who, perhaps unbeknownst to their health care providers, are in need of genetic testing for rare undiagnosed diseases can be identified en masse based on routine information in electronic health records (EHRs), a research team reported June 3 in the journal Nature Medicine.

By Paul Govern
April 1, 2021

COVID-19 met with intensive teamwork

Team members serving COVID-19 inpatients were more densely connected, interacting far more than their medical ICU counterparts.

By Paul Govern
March 11, 2021

Electronic health record study discovers novel hormone deficiency

A novel hormone deficiency may exist in humans, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. In an analysis of two decades worth of electronic health records, the researchers found that some patients have unexpectedly low levels of natriuretic peptide hormone in clinical situations that should cause high levels of the hormone.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 4, 2021

COVID-19 survey data added to All of Us platform

In December 2020, the federal government’s massive precision medicine research initiative, All of Us (AoU), made available to qualified researchers initial results from its ongoing COVID-19 Participant Experience (COPE) Survey, as well as physical activity and heart rate data collected from Fitbit devices worn by AoU participants.

By Paul Govern
February 25, 2021

Epic founder Faulkner highlights DBMI online seminar

The CEO and founder of one of the world’s largest electronic health record (EHR) vendors, Judith Faulkner of Epic Systems Corp., spoke about her company and answered questions recently at the Department of Biomedical Informatics weekly online seminar.

By Paul Govern
February 11, 2021

Data mart speeds recruitment for COVID research

The arrival last March of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee presented challenges for the clinical research enterprise at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Prompt recruitment of patients newly diagnosed with COVID-19 into clinical trials was, and remains, a public health imperative with top-level backing from the federal government.
By Paul Govern
February 11, 2021

Grant supports speedy sorting of health records by phenotype

Wei-Qi Wei, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and scientific director of the Precision Phenotyping Core at the Center for Precision Medicine, has been awarded a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (grant GM139891) to continue
By Paul Govern
February 11, 2021

Study will delve into EHR for signs of suicidality

Retrieval of clearer, more complete information from the EHR could go a long way toward improving predictive models of who will next be at risk of suicide, thereby improving care for patients with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
By Paul Govern
January 7, 2021

Building a cohort, the easy way

An automated system using keyword searches can help identify candidates for clinical trials on adverse drug reactions.
By Paul Govern
January 7, 2021

Functional seizures associated with stroke, psychiatric disorders in electronic health records study

In a large-scale study of electronic health records, Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have determined the prevalence of functional seizures and characterized comorbidities associated with them.
By Leigh MacMillan
December 17, 2020

COVID-associated delays for elective services studied

This spring in the U.S., there were widespread delays in elective health care procedures and screenings. Hospitals, in observance of federal guidelines, were, for a time, conserving beds and protective equipment in preparation for a surge in COVID-19 admissions. And, perhaps on a more prolonged basis, patients in many areas of the country stayed away due to anxiety over catching COVID-19 from other patients or their health care team.
By Paul Govern
December 3, 2020

Team tracks sources of false positives in urine drug screens

False positives on urine drug screens are common and are frequently due to cross-reactivity of these tests to medications. Last year, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers Jacob Hughey, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics, and Jennifer Colby, PhD, at that time assistant professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, devised, tested and published a method to systematically identify medications that interfere with screenings for drugs of abuse.
By Paul Govern