Building a dashboard to inform policy and clinical practice using the Irish epilepsy electronic patient record: Towards a learning health system

Abstract

Objectives

Ireland lags heavily in capacity and stakeholder interest for the development of learning health system tools. However, Ireland possesses a rich repository of electronic patient records for epilepsy patients stored at the National Epilepsy Centre at Beaumont Hospital. The objective of the current study was to develop a prototype dashboard from anonymized electronic records of Irish epilepsy patients to demonstrate the potential for the development of learning health systems in Ireland.

Methods

A cross-sectional extract of electronic patient records was extracted from the Irish National Epilepsy Centre. Extracted data were then used to construct a prototype clinical dashboard based on iterative feedback provided by relevant stakeholders. As proof-of-concept, a mock analysis was performed using the EpiData Dashboard to identify the number of women of childbearing age (16–45 years) who are currently prescribed sodium valproate.

Results

A prototype clinical dashboard called the EpiData Dashboard was produced with four distinct tabs (homepage, patient demographic information, patient diagnosis information and patient medication information) based on stakeholder feedback.

Significance

The EpiData Dashboard enables group-level analysis of information contained within epilepsy electronic patient records in a straightforward and accessible way. The development of the EpiData Dashboard demonstrates that the capacity to develop learning health system tools in Ireland can be informative for policy and epilepsy clinical care. This demonstration can drive stakeholder engagement to develop more enhanced and integrated tools to improve the capacity of epilepsy care.

Plain Language Summary

Electronic patient records are useful for storing and sharing patient data between clinicians and represent data repositories that can be leveraged to enhance healthcare policy and clinical care. Ireland lacks in leveraging electronic patient resources. The current study produced a prototype analysis tool using electronic patient records from a national epilepsy center. The efficacy of this prototype dashboard is exemplified through a demonstrative analysis that identifies females of childbearing age (16–45 years) currently taking sodium valproate. The results and reporting of the current study are useful as means to drive stakeholder engagement for developing more advanced systems to improve epilepsy care.