What phenomenon can lead to duplicate patient registration entries in an EHR?

Duplicate patient registration entries in an Electronic Health Record (EHR) can arise from a variety of factors, but a significant contributor is misspelled names or the use of different registered names. When a patient's name is misentered or varied slightly due to typos or discrepancies—such as using a nickname, variations, or alternative spellings—this can prevent the EHR system from recognizing that these entries pertain to the same individual. As a result, the system may treat them as distinct patients, leading to duplicates.

This situation is compounded by the fact that many EHR systems rely heavily on name matching to identify existing patient records. If the name similarly appears differently across records, the algorithm that checks for duplicates may not effectively reconcile them, thus necessitating the creation of a new patient record for what is, essentially, the same individual. Addressing issues related to name consistency is crucial in maintaining an accurate and unified patient database within EHR systems.