What Big Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Emergency Department Quality for Urolithiasis

Application of Big Data in Decision Making for Emergency Healthcare Management

“…Empirical research evidence indicates that although big data is beneficial in case finding or as an indicator of the need to undertake further assessments, it is not accurate in determining the quality of care delivered to patients in emergency medical setting. This was demonstrated in a research study conducted by Meltzer and Pin [7] in emergency department of an organization in California, whereby serious health conditions of patients visiting it were not diagnosed using the technique. In this case, data analytics failed to identify potentially lethal conditions in vulnerable patients, such as cardiac infarction, fractures and internal hemorrhage among patients making several visits to the emergency department [7].…”

“…A study conducted by Meltzer and Pin [7], on the potential benefits and limitations of big data in emergency medical services generated several interesting findings. One of the strengths of using big data analytics that enhance its application in emergency medicine is its ability to identify various relations and association of patients' information or data over period of time.…”

“…The second benefit of applying big data in emergency medicine is its ability to point out various relationships reported in a wide population or geographical regions and then determine the applied care patterns with high precision [7]. This information is critical for emergency health professionals, because they can establish the appropriate intervention of affected patient with high degree of certainty.…”

“…This information is critical for emergency health professionals, because they can establish the appropriate intervention of affected patient with high degree of certainty. To other emergency health practitioners, the information generated from the analytics facilitates effective communication between the stakeholders involved in the delivery of emergency healthcare services from the onset until the patient is discharged [7]. Additionally, the healthcare practitioners can be able to device an appropriate care plan and follow up for patients particularly those without access to quality outpatient care.…”

“…This partial capture of information could undermine the quality of healthcare services delivered to the patients in the emergency setting by the paramedics especially in the outpatient care. A study found that big data analytics failed to capture critical data pertaining to the patient, such as the number of visitations to emergency departments and the type of interventions applied outside the hospital settings [7].…”