Overview of EHRThe electronic health record (EHR) is known by a multitude of
names, including electronic medical record (EMR) and the computer-based patient
record (CBPR). One definition of the EHR is the following:
“The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is the longitudinal electronic record supported by an information service that delivers appropriate patient information and decision support tools to care provider applications at the point of care in a manner tailored to the context of care delivery.” (Smith, 2001) The literature gives many advantages for adopting EHR systems. One is the reduction of costs. This comes about through the reduction in duplication of services and the reduction in the number of personnel through computerization of manual services and automation of coding (Greenhalgh et al., 2010). Electronic health records improve quality of care due to diminished medical errors by providing healthcare workers with decision support systems. They also promote evidence-based medicine as there is an access to unprecedented amounts of clinical data for research that can accelerate the level of knowledge of effective medical practices (Hoffman and Podgurski, 2008). Further, EHR improves the efficiency and effectiveness with which patient care services are delivered by clinicians. They allow for simultaneous remote access to patient data, legibility of record, safer data storage, patient data confidentiality, flexible data layout and continuous data processing (Fleet, n.d., Sittig, n.d., Beverely, n.d., Mole, Fox and Napolitano, n.d). EHR is more reliable due to the presence of a good backup system for disaster recovery (Sittig, n.d). Patient satisfaction is enhanced through the smooth handling of referrals; reduction in taking multiple tests, ease in accessing results, and detection of serious threats that may be life threatening (Sittig, n.d). For these and other reasons, EHR has been prioritized in many countries and is seen as the future in health care delivery. |