The patient paper chart is recognised as the traditional way of keeping records. Imagine that the patient needed to send their records to a subsidiary care provider. This would require the primary care taker to manually scan, fax, or email the document through. This would happen after a series of approval and authorisation processes.
Electronic Health Records
Electronic Health Records are expected to take the Healthcare Industry by storm. They provide a means to tracking patient data and results instantly. This allows the information to be available to authorised users at the same time it is being input.
Medical and treatment histories of patients are kept in these records. Beyond this, they contain diagnoses, medications, treatments, immunization history, radiology images, and lab results.
Healthcare Providers may use evidence-based tools for better decision making. In providing care to a patient, it is important to not only know their current condition but also their past.
Case Studies
Several countries have national e-health record systems in place. These include Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia to name a few.
Singapore’s National Electronic Health Record System is one of the many initiatives supporting the sharing and exchanging of clinical information. The first phase was launched in 2011. Today, it is being used widely across the healthcare sector.
In 2009, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first approved $702 million HKD in funding the first stage of the e Health Record initiative. Following this funding, the Food and Health Bureau established the office for eHealth Records in 2009.
Australia launched the Personally Controlled eHealth Record System in 2009. The system has been widely accepted by the healthcare sector in Australia. Today, the Personally Controlled eHealth Record System boasts more than 2.3 million individual registrations.
With new technology and innovative means, the healthcare industry is changing its ways. Modern cities and nations are taking advantage of the mobility of information. Healthcare providers are now utilizing new technology systems to manage record databases.
