Emoji infiltrate the medical record 🤦

You’re reading the web edition of STAT’s Health Tech newsletter, our guide to how technology is transforming the life sciences. Sign up to get it delivered in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.

Good morning health tech readers!

I may just be an aging millennial, but I sometimes worry my emoji use is…. wrong. That I’m maybe humiliating myself in Slack and inscrutable in the group chat. It’s a minor (devastating) issue in my personal life, but what happens when characters with no universally defined meaning enter our medical records? Read on to our lead story to find out.

Reach me: [email protected]

What do emojis in medical records mean?

A wonderful new study of 218 million clinical notes at Michigan Medicine explores the use of emoji in medical records. Emoji use is still rare — they were in fewer than two notes in every 100,000 notes — but those numbers may be ticking up. A total of 372 distinct emoji were identified. As Katie Palmer notes, the use of the cartoony characters in medical records could impact their interpretability with legal and patient care implications.

STAT+ Exclusive Story

Already have an account? Log in

This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers

Unlock this article — plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.

Already have an account? Log in

Individual plans

Group plans

Monthly

$39

Totals $468 per year

$39/month Get Started

Totals $468 per year

Starter

$30

for 3 months, then $399/year

$30 for 3 months Get Started

Then $399/year

Annual

$399

Save 15%

$399/year Get Started

Save 15%

11+ Users

Custom

Savings start at 25%!

Request A Quote Request A Quote

Savings start at 25%!

2-10 Users

$300

Annually per user

$300/year Get Started

$300 Annually per user

View All Plans

To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.

Subscribe

Log In