Using Real Electronic Health Records in Undergraduate Education: Roundtable Discussion

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Digital Health
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Simulated electronic health records (EHRs) are used for health care student education but lack real-world data complexity.
• Existing educational methods face challenges with inconsistent clinical exposure and curricular gaps.
• Routinely collected health data are underutilized for educational purposes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore health care professionals' perspectives on using real patient records for interprofessional EHR education.
• To identify necessary governance and ethical considerations for integrating real EHR data into teaching.

Main Methods:

• Group discussions were conducted with 10 health care professionals across nursing, pharmacy, medicine, and allied health disciplines.
• The GRIPP2 checklist was utilized to guide reflections on patient and public involvement.

Main Results:

• Consensus exists on the need to upskill students in EHR competencies and transferable skills.
• Real EHRs offer benefits like learning from data complexity, real-world timelines, and multidisciplinary interactions.
• Concerns include clinician scrutiny and incidental findings, with informed consent proposed as a mitigation strategy.

Conclusions:

• Innovative solutions are needed to align health care education with digital clinical practice.
• Real patient records provide optimal training for handling complex, real-world health data.
• A robust framework with governance and consent is essential for using real health data in training.