The current use of EHRs initiated by new technology would have been hard to foresee. Current and new EHR technology will help to provide international standards for interoperable applications that use health, social, economic, behavioral, and environmental data to communicate, interpret, and act intelligently upon complex healthcare information to foster precision medicine and a learning health system.

We conclude that in surgical practice there is considerable variation in the timing of prophylactic administration of antibiotics and that administration in the two hours before surgery reduces the risk of wound infection.

Computerized detection of adverse events will soon be practical on a widespread basis.