The past several years have seen a massive influx of goods and services employing state-of-the-art technology. The advent of the internet age has brought with it fantastic technological advancements that our ancestors would have thought impossible. Schools, offices, department stores, cars and even apparel are being streamlined in order to keep up with technology.
Now, a new concept of systematically collecting electronic health information about individual patients is being developed and tested. The system of using electronic health records or EHRs is basically the physicians entering patient data into EHR forms instead of the old-fashioned filling up of medical charts and dictation. The system, like every novel idea has been met with either nods of approval or raised eyebrows.
Those who support the idea claim that using the EHR would dramatically reduce healthcare costs once it is firmly established. Computerization of records and automation of basic healthcare processes can drastically reduce administrative functions in hospitals, leaving healthcare professionals to give more attention to individual patient care. An important part of EHR is the Computerized Physician Order Entry or CPOE. This lists instructions for physicians to follow when prescribing drugs to patients. With this feature, medical errors could be seriously decreased. With the EHR, a patient's records may be easily accessible through a network of electronic medical systems thus avoiding the time-consuming coordination required by paperwork particularly when care is provided by two or more facilities. Records may also be stored for far longer than paperwork and in a much more organized manner.
Not everyone is amenable to the changes brought on by the EHR. There are those who claim that the cost of putting up the system is too high and very time-consuming. Agreeably, many physicians who have started to make a run-through of the system have claimed a decrease in productivity since they take more time in entering data into a patient's electronic record. However, these concerns are negligible since, like everything else that's new, there must be birthing pains to be suffered. Once everything is in place, things would run more smoothly. The biggest concern with the EHR is privacy. Could it or could it not be accessed by third persons who may use it for their own gain or against the patient? Although standards are being raised for access restriction, there are still those who question their adequacy. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, however and it is projected that soon use of the Electronic Health Record would become a standard in healthcare.
