Using Big Data and the EHR to Find the Team: Lessons Learned Through Partnership

Electronic Health Record (EHR) data is abundant and accessible, possessing real-world information discoverable for the study of populations and improved patient care delivery. Despite the capacity of big data science to handle voluminous data and information and extensive analytics, EHR data is a largely untapped resource due to the variations and lack of standardization in implementation, data coding, and data storage and retrieval. This seminar describes a study utilizing EHR data to discover and describe primary care teams and determine their impact on patient outcomes. Further, it describes a unique partnership between clinician and data analyst, lessons learned, and the steps in the partnership to harness EHR data for future research.

Objectives:

By the completion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the process utilized to analyze EHR big data, to discover teams and determine patient outcomes.
2. Outline the lessons learned through partnering clinicians with data analysts to use the EHR as a data source.
3. Identify the implications for future research and impact the use of big data has on the discipline of interprofessional education and practice.

Outline:

1. Introduction to the seminar (20 minutes)
   1. Review of Goals
   2. Highlights of study including aims, methods, results
   3. Survey of Audience Experience with use of big data
2. Overview of the partnership with data analytics and lessons learned (15 minutes)
   1. Question and answer with analyst
   2. Describe our process for partnership – what went well and what was challenging
   3. Interactive Q & A with audience; shared experiences
3. Finding the team in the EHR data, pearls and pitfalls (15 minutes)
   1. Limitations of the study
   2. Next steps in research and discovery
   3. Break out session to discuss ideas for future research
4. Report out and wrap-up