An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history. They are used by healthcare providers to diagnose and treat patients more efficiently, and allow more than one provider access to a patient’s information. They are typically better organized than paper charts, and they can eliminate illegible handwriting and allow storage for more information.
Who benefits and how?
EMRs can offer several benefits to the healthcare industry such as:
Improved Care and Outcomes
By allowing multiple healthcare providers to view medical records at the click of a button, EMRs can help ensure improved care and outcomes for patients and their families. Electronic health records can also facilitate the collection and tracking of data so healthcare providers can make sure a patient’s healthcare plan is on course, and they can make adjustments when necessary.
Records are Secure
Unlike paper records, which can deteriorate, get lost or be damaged as a result of a flood or fire, electronic records are not subject to tampering or human error. EMRs help protect a patient’s health details so their history is safe and secure.
Patient Benefits
Beyond overall industry benefits, patients can also receive specific benefits through EMRs, such as:
Collaborative Care
Often, a patient will need to see multiple providers to address health issues. In the past, this relationship could be hampered by paper records, but EMRs allow for ease of collaborative care so that doctors, lab technicians and pharmacists can all work off of the same, up-to-date medical information.
Information Safety
Previously, the only way a provider could gain access to a patient’s health history was to ask for the file(s) when that patient first walked into the office. However, many times a patient would forget a pertinent piece of information about past treatments or medications, and as a result, the doctor would be left trying to solve a medical puzzle with pieces missing. When records are shared electronically, a patient only needs to give his-or-her name and birthdate for a new provider to be able to access critical information, make a proper diagnosis and formulate the right treatment plan.
Patient Advocacy
EMRs allow patients to have access to their own medical history and information which can allow them to play a more active role in managing their own health. Patients can be proactive and track symptoms to ensure optimal treatment and outcome. This may be particularly important for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
Healthcare Provider Benefits
EMRs can offer healthcare providers specific benefits as well, including:
Aid in Diagnosis
When providers have instant and reliable access to a patient’s full medical history, they can make a quicker and more accurate diagnosis.
Improving Patient Safety and Outcomes
EMRs keep a detailed record of a patient’s medical history, and can be used to alert providers of possible issues. For instance, EMRs can contain information on a patient’s allergies and their current medications, and can automatically check for any interaction issues when a new drug is prescribed. Electronic records can also alert ER staff of any life-threatening allergies should a patient come into the department unconscious. In addition to improving patient safety, EMRs can quickly and systematically identify and correct any operational problems caused by a paper-based setting.
Improving Public Health
EMRs can help improve the health of entire groups of people by allowing physicians to study the population and find patients who suffer from specific conditions, patients who are eligible for preventative treatments and patients who are currently prescribed certain medications. Electronic records can detect patterns of related adverse events and enable patients who are at-risk of potential health problems. Electronic medical records offer numerous benefits to both physicians and patients. As more healthcare providers adopt EMRs, we will begin to see an overall increase in patient safety and care.
