Electronic+Medical+Records

Electronic Medical Records

What is it? Electronic Medical Records (EMR) or Electronic Health Records (EHR) store patient data in a database which can be accessed by medical staff treating them. Includes contact details, medical histories, conditions, vaccination records, test results and current treatments. EMR systems also contain billing information. Think about the social and ethical concerns for all this data on one database. Security - is it protected? Integrity - is it correct? Reliability - is it accessible when needed? Privacy - distribution of patient's private data.

Benefits: Easily accessible for doctors even if patient is unconscious or in no condition to communicate - useful having all the data in one place and the doctors know where it is. Can be accessed from the patient's bedside on a PDA, also web based interfaces allow access online.

Three ways to store EHR.
 * 1) Centralised Database - traditional system maintained and housed by a hospital. Medical staff have access to their own patient's records - note there will be access levels
 * 2) Personal Health Records - medical data is provided and maintained by the patients themselves. Stored on a patient's own computer or in a cloud based system. Patient gives doctors access to the PHR when it's needed - gives the patient more control and ownership of their data - reduces Privacy concerns. E.g. Microsoft Health Vault
 * 3) Smart Cad - Portable health record on a car. Presented to the doctor during treatment however lacks ability of remote access. Both good and bad depending upon Privacy and Security concerns. Data is encrypted for Security concerns.