Title: Does the use of electronic health records in primary care clinic settings, compared to paper-based records, improve patient safety outcomes?
Authors: Phutthaphen Sengpanich and Dr. Bruce Lazar, MBA, DM
Volume: 9
Issue: 8
Pages: 73-85
Publication Date: 2025/08/28
Abstract:
Health information technology, such as electronic health records (EHRs), has become a critical component of primary care settings. According to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, primary care clinics were among the first to adopt EHRs in care delivery. EHRs have played a significant role in improving the quality of healthcare services and promoting patient safety. The systematic literature review aimed to determine whether the use of electronic health records in primary care clinic settings, compared to paper-based records, improves patient safety outcomes. An extensive search was conducted using the U.S. National Library of Medicine's PubMed/MEDLINE and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Data from 33 relevant articles were analyzed using screening criteria aligned with the research question. Six main themes emerged from thematic analysis: how EHRs affect patient quality of care and safety (27%), improvements in communication, patient safety, quality of care, and data access (21%), comparisons showing EHR systems are more effective than paper-based records (27%), improvements in documentation quality (9%), an overview of EHR benefits, disadvantages, and barriers (9%), and concerns about data privacy, distortion, and errors (3%). The findings indicated that EHRs are critical tools in healthcare settings, positively influencing how providers deliver care compared to traditional paper-based records. Specifically, EHRs improved communication, patient safety, data access, quality of care, and documentation accuracy. Although barriers such as privacy concerns, inadequate staff training, infrastructure limitations, high initial investment costs, and risks of data distortion were indicated, health informatics leaders have the potential to improve upon EHR usage to continue to improve patient safety and quality of care outcomes in primary care settings.