The Smith Awards Program funds projects designed to improve patient and provider communication related to Epic electronic medical record (EMR) improvements. Priority is given to projects mostly likely to have the greatest impact for all Epic users for the UF Health Gainesville and Jacksonville campus. Dr. Azra Bihorac and her team’s applied for a grant based on their proprosal, “Automated algorithm identifies and and communicates risk of acute Kidney Injury among health care providers and patients,” and were funded.
According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT), the main goal of health IT, including electronic medical records (EMRs), is to improve the quality and safety of patient care. EMRs have the potential to improve care by enhancing communication among providers, promoting timely access to information at the point of care, standardizing care processes, reducing diagnostic delays, and providing clinical decision making support.
Congratulations to Dr. Bihorac and the team on your Award!
Here is a little about the team!
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Azra Bihorac, MD MS
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery and Medicine
Assistant Division Chief for Research
Department: Anesthesiology
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS:
|
Gigi Lipori
UF Health Chief Data Officer
|
Maggie Downey
Director, IT Applications & System Development
|
|
Mark Segal
Chief, Division of Nephrology
|
Justin West
Surgery
|
|
Stephanie Markle
Department: Surgery
|
|
The Abstract:
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a sudden reduction in kidney function that occurs without causing any symptoms or signs and its presence frequently goes unrecognized by patients and health care providers. It is associated with up to five-fold increases in risk for both other serious complications and hospital death, and an increase in hospital cost of up to $28,000 per hospitalization. It is estimated that 1 in 5 emergency admissions to the hospital are associated with AKI, resulting in prolonged inpatient care and contributing to 100,000 inpatient deaths annually. Our research group has demonstrated that AKI, characterized by a decrease in kidney function ranging from 10% to complete failure, affected up to 30% of surgical patients and even if the AKI resolved it still was associated with increased risks for chronic kidney disease, hemodialysis and death years after surgery. Recent National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) estimated that one quarter to one third of cases have the potential to be prevented. Although a standardized definition for AKI that uses an increase in routinely measured serum creatinine level to quantify three severity stages has been in place for the last several years, adoption among physicians is low and awareness among patients for this devastating complication is even lower. Recent national patient safety data from the United Kingdom demonstrated that patient mortality and injury increases with any delay in detecting AKI, and the UK has launched a National AKI Prevention Programme. The goal of this program is to develop and adopt e-alert systems, based on serum creatinine, which will pro-actively notify clinicians when a patient has AKI. We propose a multidisciplinary team of health care workers, information technology specialists, engineers and patients to develop an automated algorithm that uses electronic health records (EHR) to identify AKI risk in real time using changes in serum creatinine and to communicate that risk to health care workers, patients and patients’ families’. This proposal would increase communication effectiveness and timeliness and decrease harm due to any delay in detecting AKI. It will also allow meaningful use of EHR mandated by Center for Medicare Services.
