The Cutting Edge of Pediatric EHR and Circumcision

According to an article published yesterday on NPR.org, a new report by The American Academy of Pediatrics claims that circumcision of newborn males proves to be beneficial to the infant as well as the grown man’s health later in life.  The beauty of electronic health records is the fact that they are mobile and follow the patient through all stages of their life.  This study could be the perfect opportunity for pediatric as well as urology EMR to shine by proving or dispelling the study’s accuracy over time.

Pediatric EHRs provide a detailed step-by-step circumcision guide for pediatric urologists to follow during the procedure with the specific templates for exams and procedures on infants and will properly document the procedure in the child’s medical record.   If the child moves and sees a different pediatrician, they will be able to quickly pull up the patient’s complete medical history where the circumcision will be noted.  The author of the report claims that the benefits of circumcision are immediate by the reduction of the risk of urinary tract infections in babies.  Customized urinary tract infection templates allow pediatricians to indicate whether the baby is circumcised or not and keep record of which patients appear to be having a higher occurrence infection.

The EHR will continue to record clinical data throughout the boy’s childhood and adolescence.  In another study, teens were shown to be more honest about their sex lives when given the opportunity to answer questions via tablet/kiosk instead of verbally in person.   The responses are then added to the rest of the exam data from that encounter and doctors will order tests for STDs if the teen is considered to be at-risk.  Through the EHR, higher-risk patients can also be flagged as needing a reminder to get tested more frequently as well.  Following the patient from infancy, through adolescence and well into adulthood, their medical data can be easily incorporated into the urologist’s EMR later in the event that the man develops more complicated sexually transmitted infections or penile cancer.  A lifetime of data from electronic health records will provide unbiased evidence-based information that can either prove or debunk the findings of the recent report.