American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Clinical Report on Electronic Health Record Use for Patient Care

The American Academy of Pediatrics details the many uses of electronic health record systems for effective and efficient pediatric patient care within a revised clinical report, “Special Requirements of Electronic Health Record Systems in Pediatrics.” The clinical report, published in the October 2024 Pediatrics (published online Sept. 23) observes that while 94% of pediatric offices surveyed in 2016 reported using electronic health records, fewer than 17% use the system with full pediatric functionality, which would include capabilities such as weight-based dosing and tracking immunization schedule adherence.  

The AAP report, written by the Council on Clinical Information Technology, focuses solely on the use of electronic health systems as a support in providing patient care, as opposed to using electronic health systems for administrative functions, such as appointment scheduling or billing. The areas that are critical to the care of infants, children, and adolescents include immunization management; growth, development, and tracking of social drivers of health; decision support for orders; patient identification; data normalization; privacy; and system functionality standards in pediatric contexts. 

The clinical report also addresses maintaining patient privacy using electronic health systems, as well as circumstances such as caring for children in child welfare protective custody, adoption, or in emergency situations. 

Clinical reports created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics.  

##

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.