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According to many medical experts, EMR or electronic medical records are tools used today by many hospitals to store and manage their patient’s medical records easily and conveniently. Compared to paper-based records, an EMR can offer faster retrieval of a patient’s record which can be useful for a number of reasons. What is an EMR? An EMR or electronic medical record is a type of software developed for use of hospitals and other medical care providers for easier way to store, retrieve, and modify a patient’s medical record. The software is usually closely related to another type of electronic medical device known as the EHR or electronic health record. Both terms are usually used interchangeably, although a difference between them can be defined. The EMR can be defined as the legal patient record created in hospitals and ambulatory environments that is the data source for the EHR. Different Types of EMR There are different types of EMR services or module within an EMR software. Each module specifies a particular illness, complete with templates and information in which nurses and doctors can use. Popular types of EMR modules include pain management emr, dermatology EMR, pediatric EMR, general surgery EMR, and many others. Advantages compared to Traditional Practices There are many advantages of using EMR compared to the use of traditional pen-and-paper-based medical records. One situation is when a previous patient from one hospital is admitted in another hospital. The usual process of transferring the patient’s medical record from his/her previous hospital would normally involve courier services, particularly if the patient is admitted in a hospital in another region or state. EMR made this process easier by sending the patient’s digital medical record through the internet to another hospital that also makes use of EMR applications. Another reason why EMR are highly recommended by many medical experts is because it minimizes the risk of medical errors usually posed by poor penmanship. Pre-printed forms, the standardization of abbreviations, and standards for penmanship were encouraged to improve reliability of paper medical records. Electronic records help with the standardization of forms, terminology and abbreviations, and data input. Digitization of forms facilitates the collection of data for epidemiology and clinical studies. Because of these, many medical experts now recommends the use of EMR, particularly for large hospitals, to not only make it easier for nurses and doctors to store and retrieve medical records, but also improve their medical practices by minimizing the many medical errors produced by the use of paper-based medical records.
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electronic medical records, pain management emr,
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