Where Is Research in the Era of Electronic Health Records?

IntroductionData extraction from electronic health records (EHRs) for use in clinical research continues to be labor-intensive and to offer little benefit over traditional paper chart reviews. This is largely due to poor integration of EHR systems with hospital process flow, which still relies heavily on traditional paperwork as a means of documentation. DiscussionNew methods in data collection through mobile applications have streamlined data entry through better data standardization and improved overall data quality. However, mobile applications address only a portion of the problem. Data entry errors and legacy integration will continue to be an issue when there are changes between practitioners with different EHR systems. The combination of a mobile application with the cloud platform has been applied in multiple specialties to monitor recovery and patient-reported outcomes. ConclusionMobile applications along with a virtual cloud environment to host data provide a reasonable solution for consolidating patient data and can accelerate population research.