Capturing, recording and storing patient medical data is a crucial component of all medical practices. Gone are the days when all patient information was transcribed onto paper and stored in filing cabinets. Before long, every patient’s medical records will be kept in a computer file that is accessible to all their physicians, health technicians and health care institutions. Medical offices and hospitals are hard at work to finish these conversions.
The Future of Electronic Patient Records – EMR, EPR and EHR
There are differences in the type of electronic storage that medical and information technology professionals prefer. The three major types of electronic records are Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR). Each of the terms describes a structured, digitized and fully accessible patient record. Although they sound like slightly different names for the same thing, there are differences.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
The EMR usually focuses on a particular medical specialty, such as neurology. These records can be made for a department in a hospital or a group of patients’ medical data from all the departments at one site of a hospital. These records usually stay within the group. The records may be shared within different sites of the institution, but never between hospitals. This term is used in North America and in the Asia-Pacific countries. It is usually not used in Europe.
Electronic Patient Record (EPR)
This is the term most commonly used in the United Kingdom. It is essentially the same definition as the Electronic Medical Record. The UK National Health Service defines the EPR as “an electronic record of periodic health care of a single individual, provided mainly by one institution.” The term is more patient-centric than is the EMR.
The Electronic Health Record (EHR)
The EHR is designed to be a complete electronic record of a patient, from birth to death. Different care settings and institutions are combined into aggregated data and shown in a single record. The Committee for European Normalization describes the EHR as “A repository of information in a computer readable format regarding the health of a subject of care.“ The Australian National EHR Taskforce describes the record further but basically the same as the European model and includes handheld devices for EHR access by health care professionals.
The Future of Patient’s Medical Record Keeping
Although some people are uneasy about having their records stored on computers, the fact is that the records are actually safer and more private. If records are stored electronically, they can be well protected by the competent use of passwords. If someone tries to obtain unauthorized access to electronic records, the attempted access can be tracked and stopped. With the old paper records, it was impossible to tell if anyone had taken and read the file, then disseminated information.
No matter how one fears putting their intimate and private medical records into an electronic system that is accessible to many medical caregivers, it is critically important to do so. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that 98,000 people in this country die every year from avoidable medical mistakes. Up to 20 percent of these errors are because of the lack of quick access to patient health information.
