The impact of health information management professionals on patient safety: A systematic review

Background The importance of high‐quality health information for patient safety has been established in the literature, yet the impact of the professionals who are the custodians of health information is absent. Objectives This article presents the results of a systematic literature review examining...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health information and libraries journal 2021-12, Vol.38 (4), p.248-258
Main Authors: Kemp, Trixie, Butler‐Henderson, Kerryn, Allen, Penny, Ayton, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Empirical analysis
governance
Health Information Management
health records
Humans
Information management
information skills
Literature reviews
patient information
Patient safety
Professionals
review
Safety
systematic
Systematic review
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Summary:Background The importance of high‐quality health information for patient safety has been established in the literature, yet the impact of the professionals who are the custodians of health information is absent. Objectives This article presents the results of a systematic literature review examining the impact of the Health Information Management (HIM) profession on patient safety. Methods A PRISMA approach was adopted for the review of selected databases and specific journals. Titles identified as relating to HIM and patient quality were screened using Covidence ® by title and , followed by full text. The quality of selected articles was assessed and thematically analysed. Results Analysis of the 8 included articles found that the key themes from the non‐empirical research were data quality, information governance, corporate governance, skills and knowledge required for HIM professionals. Discussion Most publications focussed on HIM professional involvement in maintaining standards for data quality and health records, but not the professional qualifications themselves. Conclusions There are links between patient safety and health records, and between health records and HIM professional work. More empirical research is needed to demonstrate how qualified HIM professionals contribute to patient safety.
ISSN:1471-1834
1471-1842
DOI:10.1111/hir.12400