Collecting Psychosocial "Vital Signs" in Electronic Health Records: Why Now? What Are They? What's New for Psychology?

Social, psychological, and behavioral factors are recognized as key contributors to health, but they are rarely measured in a systematic way in health care settings. Electronic health records (EHRs) can be used in these settings to routinely collect a standardized set of social, psychological, and b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2016-09, Vol.71 (6), p.497-504
Main Authors: Matthews, Karen A., Adler, Nancy E., Forrest, Christopher B., Stead, William W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computerized medical records
Delivery of Health Care - methods
Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration
Electronic Communication
Electronic Health Records
Female
Health
Health behavior
Health promotion
Health records
Human
Humans
Male
Measurement
Medical Records
Prevention programs
Promotion
Psychologists
Psychology
Psychosocial Factors
Social psychology
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Social, psychological, and behavioral factors are recognized as key contributors to health, but they are rarely measured in a systematic way in health care settings. Electronic health records (EHRs) can be used in these settings to routinely collect a standardized set of social, psychological, and behavioral determinants of health. The expanded use of EHRs provides opportunities to improve individual and population health, and offers new ways for the psychological community to engage in health promotion and disease prevention efforts. This article addresses 3 issues. First, it discusses what led to current efforts to include measures of psychosocial and behavioral determinants of health in EHRs. Second, it presents recommendations of an Institute of Medicine committee regarding inclusion in EHRS of a panel of measures that meet a priori criteria. Third, it identifies new opportunities and challenges these recommendations present for psychologists in practice and research.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/a0040317