Harnessing Electronic Medical Records in Cardiovascular Clinical Practice and Research.

The use of electronic medical records has rapidly been adopted world-wide, which has resulted in multiple new opportunities for cardiovascular research. These include the following: (1) the development and assessment of clinical decision tools, meant to increase quality of care; (2) harnessing data linkages to examine genetic, epidemiological, and pharmacological associations on an unprecedented scale; and (3) harnessing electronic medical records to facilitate the conduct of cardiovascular clinical trials. While these opportunities promise to revolutionize cardiovascular care and research, enthusiasm should be tempered while further assessment of true clinical utility has been undertaken.