Using emergency re-admission time window to design the re-admission prediction feature in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems are the most innovative information technology infrastructure in the recent decades that facilitate the improvement of healthcare quality, efficiency and safety. EMRs are used by medical practitioners in storing, handling, and consulting the patients´ data. Decision support is one of the most useful and promising features of EMRs, which is yet to be fully adopted in healthcare sector. The reason of the uncommon use of the decision support feature is partly due to the complexity of medical processes and protocols, and partly due to the technological constraint. In this research, the re-admission prediction feature was investigated as a part of decision support in EMRs. The emergency re-admission time window was used to design the proposed re-admission prediction feature. This research also examined how the appropriateness of the width of a time window contributes to the design factor of the proposed re-admission prediction feature. This research demonstrated that the use of emergency re-admission time window is appropriate in the design of re-admission prediction feature. The research outcome allows the users of EMRs to manage the re-admission case in hospital.