Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences (May 2012)
The Role of Electronic Health Records in Presenting Health Information
Abstract
Corrently any institute that does not benefit from information technology and communication networks, will gradually fall away from global communication. Therefore, various industries have shifted towards applying information technology in order to increas their quality and productivity in today’s competitive world. The health industry has also experienced such change. The health system has been constantly taking effective steps towards benefitting from the latest technologies to increase health and improve clinical anf financial results. In an announcement made in the 55th public session of the United Nations in Sepptember, 2000, and accepted by 189 member countries, information and communication technology was introduced as an important tool for achieving all the goals of this organization such as reducing poverty, correcting educational and health services, easy access to governmental services and improving the society’s health level. Considering the importance of medical records as the most important information source in healthcare, we can claim that one of the best aspects of the application of information technology in the health system which has an key role in increasing the effectiveness of the health system, is the creation of electronic medical records. The electronic health record tool is an electronic health record system that enables the healthcare personnel save time and money and improve the health condition of patients by organizing their records. Moreover, the diagnosis and treatment process will also be simplified. This tool combines traditional paper records with modern technological facilities for increasing the accuracy and speed of completing healthcare records. Using paper records has certain problems such as mistakes related to bad handwriting, prescriptions, and mistakes in writing words, icreased costs for copying forms, cards, and files, and most importantly the place needed for filing the records and the human resources needed for this task. Therefore, for overcoming these problems, electronic health records are suggested. However, considering the sensitivity of the information, the confidentiality of the records is very important. Therefore, many countries have set policies int his regard. Maintaing the confidentiality of the records differs between societies considering their social, economical, scientific, political and cultural conditions.
