Annals of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Preformatted charts improve documentation in the emergency department.
To determine if the use of programmed charts with complaint-specific entry criteria results in improved documentation of patient encounters and better clinical outcome. ⋯ Programmed charts improve documentation by facilitation of the documentation process and allow more time for patient-physician interaction. Quality of documentation alone, however, is not a reliable indicator of patient outcome or of the quality of care received.