As mentioned in a previous post, it would be helpful if the electronic health record allowed us to easily compute summary statistics of lab results.

For example, the pressor guideline for acute kidney injury related to hepatorenal syndrome is to discontinue if serum creatinine is within 0.3 mg/dL of baseline (Nadim et al 2024, Acute kidney injury in patients with cirrhosis).

So, then the provider has to figure out what the patient’s baseline is. However, they might look in the EHR and see 15 serum creatinine measurements. Which is baseline?

A seasoned nephrologist will, for example, take the average. So, it would be nice if the electronic health record therefore could automatically report the average. It could also report other statistics, such as the median.