School of Medicine - UQ reSEARCHers (Publications)

	Publication

2004	Laurence, COM, Burgess, T, Beilby, J, Symon, B and Wilkinson, D (2004) Electronic medical records may be inadequate for improving population health status through general practice: cervical smears as a case study. Australian And New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 28 4: 317-320.
	Objective: To determine whether routine electronic records are an accurate source of population health data in general practice through reviewing cervical smears rates in four South Australian practices. Methods: The cervical screening rate in a purposive sample of four general practices (three rural and one urban) was obtained using an audit of medical records and a telephone follow-up. Results: The cervical screening rate using only immediately available electronic medical records indicated an overall low rate for the participating practices (44.9%). However, telephone follow-up and adjustments to the denominator indicated the real rate to be 85.7%. The offer of appointments during the telephone follow-up further improved this rate for eligible women (93.8%). Conclusions and implications: Electronic medical records may be inadequate in preventive screening in general practice, without ensuring their accuracy. Updating records by telephone or personal follow-up produces a much more accurate denominator.
	Professor David Wilkinson
eSpace Record:	http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:42115

Keywords:	Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, Cancer, Women, Pap, Recruitment