Including Work Information in Electronic Health Records

Today’s “Health IT Buzz,” the blog of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), features a blog co-written by Kerry Souza of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Michael Wittie of the ONC. Posted during “Health Center Week”, the blog highlights the leadership and initiative of health centers in using Electronic Health Records to capture and use patients’ work information to address health issues related to their work.  Occupation is an important determinant of health that has not been systematically recorded in medical records. These projects are significant steps in the efforts by NIOSH and its partners to ensure that patient work information is captured in Electronic Health Records and can be used to address both individual patient health and the health of working populations.  You can read the blog HERE.

Kerry Souza, ScD, MPH   

Dr. Souza is an epidemiologist in the NIOSH Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies