Evaluating the Fitness for Purpose of Primary Care Data from Electronic Health Records for Automated Antimicrobial Prescribing Audits
- Author(s)
- Cheah, R; Manski-Nankervis, JA; Thursky, K; Rozova, V; Chidgey, C; Boyle, D; James, R; Biezen, R; Capurro, D;
- Details
- Publication Year 2026-03,Volume 17,Issue #2,Page 225-236
- Journal Title
- Applied Clinical Informatics
- Publication Type
- Research article
- Abstract
- The objective of this study is to determine whether primary care electronic health record (EHR) data are sufficiently complete and plausible to support automated audits of antimicrobial prescribing quality.Cross-sectional descriptive assessment of antimicrobial auditing-related fields in Patron, a large Australian primary care EHR dataset with 3.5 million patients from 129 consenting general practices. Data from 2018 to 2022 were evaluated using the Harmonized Data Quality Assessment Terminology and Framework, covering conformance, completeness, and plausibility.Thirty-one fields (137,776,804 rows; 1,406,364 patients across 116 practices) were assessed. Value conformance and plausibility were high for most core audit variables, including demographics, antimicrobial name, dose, allergy status, and visit date. Prescribing indication was incompletely captured (13-27% completeness), and allergy severity was recorded in 26% of allergy entries. Vendor-level heterogeneity contributed substantially to variation in field completeness.Australian primary care EHR data capture the core structured elements required for automated antimicrobial prescribing audits, enabling assessments of spectrum suitability, microbiology mismatch, and prescribing prevalence. Incomplete and inconsistent documentation of indication and allergy severity necessitates the use of proxy fields or inference for more complex evaluations. Greater standardization across EHR systems is required to enhance the scalability and clinical utility of automated audits in primary care.
- Publisher
- Thieme
- Keywords
- *Electronic Health Records; *Primary Health Care; Humans; Automation; *Drug Prescriptions; *Anti-Infective Agents/therapeutic use; *Medical Audit
- Department(s)
- Infectious Diseases
- Publisher's Version
- https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2839-8787
- Terms of Use/Rights Notice
- Refer to copyright notice on published article.
Creation Date: 2026-04-02 12:30:00
Last Modified: 2026-04-28 11:42:13