|
An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital legal medical record created and used in an institution which provides medical care. Electronic medical records have been a part of health information systems which allows the institution to store, recover and manipulate patient’s records. Antithesis with paper-based record: Paper based records have been the standard for collating medical data for centuries and their continuous replacement by digital records have slowly gone underway for the past 20 years. However, EMR systems that have been brought about have been mainly used for administrative purposes compared to clinical application. An insurmountable amount of storage space is required for paper based records compared to that of computerized or digital records. Most medical institutions are required a minimum of seven to ten years to have physical records to be held. This feat of keeping medical records is not a walk in the park for any medical institution due to costs for media storage for paper records compared to that of digital media. Not to mention time constraints in retrieving information for review by health care providers and risks of paper-based records which are hard to sometimes hard to read, damaged or incomplete. Information sharing costs such as -faxing, transporting and copying of files are consequential compared to digital file transfers. Electronic medical records help align medical institutions for any updates that can be easily accessible to consumers. In which case dramatically improves the quality and reliability of medical institutions and non-affiliated healthcare facilities in providing assistance in a timely manner. Barriers of EMRs: Widespread exertion of the use of EMRs has been contested with issues that are at the forefront of medical institutions and the government including financial matters, patient privacy and technical issues. Technical barriers comes hand-in-hand with the financial aspect of its disadvantages. Computer hardware, software, upgrades and maintenance fees are just the tip of the iceberg. Additional funds are needed for training and/or re-training of medical staff to manipulate and navigate thru the system. In terms of medical advances, electronic medical records generated a rapid increase on countless lives emancipated; in which case, greatly outweighs its detriment.
Related Articles -
electronic, medical, records,
| 
