 Electronic Medical Record
By Michael Wall, MD
Decatur Memorial Hospital Family Physician
An electronic patient medical record filing system is a monumental task that only a handful of hospitals across the nation have accomplished. After extensive testing and training, Decatur Memorial Hospital has become one of only a few hospitals to convert to an electronic medical record.
The conversion to a nearly paperless medical record filing system benefits patients in a number of ways:
- It helps protect and preserve the privacy of medical information.
- It makes physician access to that medical information faster and easier.
- It makes storage and retrieval more efficient.
- It allows for quick search features to identify patients at-risk for certain diseases and find those who may benefit from new treatments
Before the system was in place, processing a paper medical record was extremely time consuming. An average paper record many times included 100 or more documents and missing pages or tears made reading the paper document difficult. Only one physician at a time had access to a patient chart.
Keeping medical records electronically is high in efficiency, accuracy and cost savings for everyone and gives healthcare providers access to patient information at the point of care, whether in the hospital, in the medical office, or at home during the evening. One example of the benefit of quick access to the electronic medical record is a frequent occurrence - a patient calls at night with a problem to be addressed. I can access his or her chart from my home, review their current problems and medications and determine the best course of treatment for them. This would be impractical if not impossible with a paper chart.
The system has many additional benefits for patients, such as built-in safeguards for checking electronically for drug interactions, including herbal and over-the-counter medications. Also, if there is a drug recall, a search can easily be performed for our patients who need to be notified. Now, in a matter of minutes, we can search patient files to identify those taking a particular drug that has been recalled and immediately send out a warning letter. Before the electronic medical record, there was no way to quickly search through thousands of paper charts.
Patient convenience is another benefit of the electronic medical record system. In our current system, we will be installing a new module to allow patients the ability to securely look at their own medical chart by a secure link (much like online banking), request medication refills and appointment times, and fill out new patient enrollment information or other paper work, conveniently and securely in their own home.
DMH patients can rest assured that each person with access to the electronic medical record goes through several layers of security logins, which uniquely identifies that person as being authorized to view the medical record. Each time a patient’s medical information is accessed, a traceable record is created, that logs each time the chart is accessed. This security safeguarding of your medical information is not available for the paper chart, and is an additional reason why hospitals and healthcare providers should be considering the move to the electronic medical record.
With the efficiency and safety of its electronic medical record system, DMH has chosen to move ahead into the technologically advanced 21st Century.
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