Everything You Need To Know About Electronic Health Record

By TechDogs Editorial Team

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Overview

Imagine Sarah, a 55-year-old woman. She has just flown down to her son's city as she decided to live with her son. It's just three days since she has been in the town and on a Wednesday afternoon, she experiences a sudden chest pain at home. Since her son, Smith, is at his job far from home, her grandson, John, takes her to the nearest hospital.

The attending physician or John might not know Sarah's medicinal history. Wouldn't it be convenient if the doctors could simply know her health record and make prompt decisions under such circumstances?

Guess what? Sarah has her medicinal records digitally stored on her smartphone, also known as EHR - Electronic Health Record. This helps the hospital staff know her past diagnoses, allergies, medications and previous medicinal tests and eventually make a decision based on the information.

Read about Electronic Health Records so that if you end up meeting a doctor under such circumstances (we really wish that you don't!), they have every bit of medicinal history at their fingertips!

Read on!

So where were we? Yeah, Sarah, at the hospital, getting her treatment. As the doctors know her medical history, they soon schedule relevant tests and blood work promptly. The results are directly recorded in her Electronic Health Record digitally.

Additionally, the EHR system alerts Sarah's emergency number, her son, Smith, about her emergency visit, ensuring coordinated care and follow-up. He calls the doctor on call and gets all the updates.

As Smith comes to the hospital, the doctors meet the family and ensure, "There is nothing to worry about. As we had her medical history, we took precautions. The meds should make everything fine."

On the same day, Sarah, John and Smith return home, smiling, as her prescription is already sent to the pharmacy electronically, all set and ready to start her medication. #HappyEnding

The moral of the story is anyone can have medical emergencies and we should always be prepared for it, especially when we have seniors in our family. Digital medical records are beneficial for both consumers and healthcare providers to offer treatment easily.

Let's discuss more about Electronic Health Records and their history, benefits, future and more!

What Is An Electronic Health Record?

Electronic Health Record, as the word suggests, documenting health records electronically, digitally. It is an individual's official health document to be shared among different health facilities, medical professionals and agencies. As the world is becoming more digital every day, the importance and requirement of EHR is also increasing. Along with the healthcare industry, consumers are also keen on having mobile access to their health records.

Apart from digital access to health records, the EHR system also sets up a consumer portal containing secure consumer data that can be shared with other healthcare organizations. We all would have to run back and forth between hospitals, clinics and labs to get blood tested and the reports to show them to doctors. However, with an Electronic Health Record system, medical orders and diagnostic test requests can be managed online!

Let's get to the roots and see how Electronic Health Records changed everything! #DentalPuns

History And Evolution Of Electronic Health Record

Maintaining records has always been part of human nature. It is just that the way of keeping records has changed over the years. Let's talk about the evolution:

1960-70s: The Early Days

It all began in the 1960s when the Mayo Clinic pioneered EHR adoption in Minnesota, stitching one of the costliest government-health organization partnerships. By the 1970s, large hospitals used EHRs primarily for billing and scheduling. Simultaneously, the 'problem-oriented' patient medical record emerged, eventually evolving into today's electronic medical records.
1980s: Portable Medical Records

While the early computer applications were primarily used in hospitals for billing and scheduling rather than EHRs, hospitals and clinics embraced the portable medical records model with the viral use of computers. This was the rise of Electronic Health Records in the 1980s.
1990s: The Era Of Internet

By the 1990s, while technologies were integrated into most medical offices, computers were being used to a limited extent for record-keeping. The internet era marked significant advancements in electronic health record-keeping, enabling prescription history, medical records and claims processing.
Today

In 2004, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was established to ensure widespread electronic health records within a decade. It's been twenty years since that and today, health care technology has reached new heights and patient records are more accessible and secured than ever.

Some of us might need to visit doctors regularly because of health issues and an Electronic Health Record becomes a must. If you wonder how this works, keep scrolling, as we are always there to answer your queries.

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How Does Electronic Health Record Work?

The working of Electronic Health Records is pretty simple. However, it can differ from system to system based on the features provided. We'll go back to Sarah. Let's see how she is doing. Hope she is fine.

Imagine Sarah has diabetes. Just imagine because we don't want her to be sick. Her doctor requests blood sugar level tests. Once the tests are done, the reports are stored in a private cloud database accessible only to Sarah.

She can share her reports with the doctor with an access ID or QR code and set time limits. The doctor can update prescriptions, notes, lab results, upcoming appointments and more during the allocated time. This ensures security and authorizes access to her medical data.

Even if she happens to switch doctors in the future, it becomes hassle-free because all her medical data is maintained and updated on the cloud. She can just share access to the new doctor and revoke access from the previous one if needed. Easy-peasy!

If we talk about the backend technologies involved in making electronic health systems, it involves payment gateways, video conferencing APIs, scheduling and chat APIs and different programming languages. Fascinating stuff, right?

Apart from getting an easy treatment and having medical history accessible at your fingertips, Electronic Health Record has several benefits. Read on!

Benefits Of Electronic Health Record

We might not be an X-ray technician but we can see through the benefits of Electronic Health Records – and they are exciting. The main ones include:

Better Patient Care

EHR systems can improve healthcare significantly. They facilitate rapid access to patient records, enhancing patient and provider convenience. This streamlines processes and improves coordination and efficiency between medical teams.
Fewer Mistakes

Healthcare professionals often use abbreviations to save time when taking notes, which can confuse others reviewing the chart. Electronic health systems address this issue by offering prompts and dropdown menus, reducing possible mistakes and increasing accuracy.
Data Security

Paper records are susceptible to loss, misfiling or damage, while electronic records have a lower risk of such issues. Moreover, electronic records are typically password protected, ensuring that even if they are lost, unauthorized individuals cannot access them.
Decision Making

When a patient's data is stored and maintained at a unified platform, it enables accurate diagnoses and safer care delivery. Moreover, advanced EHRs even offer evidence-based features for better decision-making.
Lower Operational Cost

Digital records have integrated communication methods, such as transcriptions, physical chart storage, claims management, etc., that lead to cost savings by minimizing administrative expenses.

The benefits seem to be a sweet pill to swallow! If you are asking what can be done with Electronic Health Records, let us picture the features – they are truly a sight for sore eyes.

TechDogs-"Benefits Of Electronic Health Record"-"A GIF From Parks & Recreation"

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Features Of Electronic Health Record

The features of Electronic Health Records are so amazing that they can even wake up sleeping pills. Just kidding – here they are:

Patient Portal

A patient portal that functions independently as an app or as an extension of an EHR system. Consumers can access their information and share it securely with different healthcare organizations.
E-prescriptions

EHR systems support electronic prescribing or E-prescriptions to streamline the process, making it easier for users to request refills, ensure correct dosages and communicate about prescriptions and side effects within eHealth records.
Lab Integration

Lab information systems can be integrated with EHRs or exist independently. Such integrations streamline test result tracking and retrieval, give better health insights, enhance internal processes and ultimately improve healthcare quality for patients.
Communication Channels

Patient portals enable efficient communication between clients and healthcare providers through secure messaging, allowing patients to easily follow up on appointments, ask questions and receive prompt responses from specialists.
Reports & Alerts

The analytical reports within EHR offer evidence-based decision-making and data management. The system also alerts healthcare providers and patients about necessary actions and treatment plans.

These medical puns may make you sick but we hope you are living a healthy life because investing in a healthier future is important. Talking of the future...

TechDogs-"Features Of Electronic Health Record"-"A GIF From Schitt's Creek - Self Care Is Important"

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Future Of Electronic Health Record

It should not surprise you but as per reports, the global EHR market is expected to reach $38.5 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 4%. With such a growing market, we can anticipate only emerging trends.

Cloud Computing

The trend of working from home has brought cloud computing again into the picture. It will allow medical organizations to outsource administrative and clinical tasks like billing, reporting and lab integration.
Artificial Intelligence

The use of Artificial Intelligence will help physicians diagnose and identify patient health issues and ailments. Moreover, many companies are even thinking of adding voice recognition to EHR systems to enable a more conversational healthcare experience.
IoT And Wearable Devices

With the popularity of IoT and wearable devices, people have become more aware of their health metrics. Integrating data from these devices into EHR systems will bring better patient care.

We hope the future of Electronic Health Records makes you feel healthy enough. If you want to get healthier and increase your tech immunity, we always have your back with the freshest and latest immunity boosters. Visit here to know more!

The Final Diagnosis

We might not be professional doctors but we can diagnose one thing for sure: Electronic Health Records have made things easier for consumers and healthcare professionals. If you or your organization is considering developing an electronic health system, let us tell you that you are on the perfect diet.

While the world is changing rapidly, Electronic Health Records are helping healthcare professionals treat their patients easily and allowing us easy access to our medical records. Have you updated your traditional medical systems for EHR yet?

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is An Electronic Health Record And Why Do I Need One?

An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a digital documentation of your health records accessible across various healthcare facilities and professionals. It ensures easy access to medical history and facilitates coordinated care among different providers. With the world going digital, EHRs offer convenient mobile access to health records and streamline processes like medical orders and diagnostic test requests, making healthcare management more efficient and accessible.

How Does An Electronic Health Record System Work?

EHR systems simplify healthcare management by storing medical data in a private cloud database accessible to the individual. Patients can securely share their records with doctors using access IDs or QR codes, authorizing access for a specified time. These systems ensure data security and enable hassle-free access to medical records, even when switching healthcare providers.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Electronic Health Records?

EHR systems offer numerous benefits, including improved patient care through rapid access to records, reduced errors with built-in prompts and dropdown menus, enhanced data security compared to paper records, better decision-making with unified patient data and lower operational costs due to integrated communication methods.

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Electronic Health Record (EHR) EHR System E-health Records Electronic Health Systems EHR Systems In Healthcare Health Records

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