Family Practice Advance Access originally published online on March 16, 2005
Family Practice 2005 22(2):168-169; doi:10.1093/fampra/cmi005
Mandatory computer field for blood pressure measurement improves screening
a Maccabi Healthcare Services, 27 Hamered St., Tel Aviv, b Tel Aviv University, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv and c Ben-Gurion University, Faculty of Medicine, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Correspondence to Dr Isaac Hoch; Email: hoch{at}saad.org.il
Methods. We evaluated the effectiveness of a compulsory data field in a computerized medical record (CMR) in improving blood pressure (BP) screening.
Results. The proportion of study patients who had their BP measured increased from 40.6% to 58.5% (P < 0.001) after the intervention. After adjusting for age, gender and number of visits, patients were 73% more likely to have their BP recorded after the introduction of the compulsory field.
Keywords. Compulsory data field screening, computer-generated alerts, hypertension, primary care.