Electronic Health Record (EHR) Abstraction.

The purpose of electronic health record (EHR) abstraction includes collection of data related to administrative coding functions, quality improvement, clinical registry functions and clinical research. This article examines the different abstraction methods, such as manual abstraction, simple query, and natural language processing (NLP). It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each of those methods. The process used for successful EHR abstraction is also discussed and includes the scope and resources needed (time, budget, type of healthcare professionals RHIA, RHIT, etc.). The relationship between EHRs and the clinical registry is also examined with a focus on validity of the data extracted. Future research in this area to examine abstraction methods across hospitals who do data abstraction are being finalized for a future publication.