Using electronic patient records in mental health care to capture housing and homelessness information of psychiatric consumers.

Homelessness among people with psychiatric illness is at an all time high. Many explanations for this phenomenon exist, including the incidence of discharge from inpatient hospital directly into the streets or shelter system. With little known about this unseen social issue afflicting many mental health consumers, this manuscript provides recommendations for using electronic patient records (EPR) as a conduit to capture housing and homelessness related information. With the increased use of EPRs in the Canadian health care system, the research and clinical benefits of this technology have only recently begun to be realized in mental health care.