Electronic Medical Records the Applications

Electronic Medical Records

The applications of Information Technology are seen in every aspect of life. The health care industry has also taken its impacts in the form of computerized health information systems; called Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). These are specialized computerized systems that enable health care organizations to manage important information of their patients, employees, and suppliers in an effective and efficient way. Electronic Medical Records are installed by large scale hospitals, medical laboratories, and health care institutions at all organizational levels. EMRs have built in functionalities to manage the input data in different forms and provide it when required by the concerned staff of the organization.

EMRs became popular when health care organizations realized the need to have a systematic way of managing their patients' data. The applications of EMRs are more seen in large hospitals and laboratories as they deal with a large number of patients on daily basis. Through EMRs, these organizations can insert, edit, modify, store, and retrieve all the medical records of their patients and information of their employees and suppliers without the risk of duplication or deletion of data due to security issues. EMRs also enable various departments in a health care organization to communicate with each other and share patients' information and medical records in an efficient and secure way.

Using EMRs, doctors and physicians can share the issues and problems of their patients with other doctors and reach better diagnostic decisions. In the future, EMRs will become more advanced and encompass more functions. Keeping in view their significance for the data management purposes, every organization is investing large amounts to purchase these computerized systems so that they can bring efficiency in their operations and institute the safest way of managing patients' data.

Introduction:

With the advent and day by day increasing implications of technology in the medical field, every hospital and health care institution is in a quest to find the most cost efficient and advanced way of performing their functions. Keeping in view the importance of Information Technology in every aspect of their business, these organizations are now expending large amount on instituting corporate-wide health information systems in their operational areas. These systems enable them to manage their important data and bring efficiency in their functions. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are computerized health information systems that provide a variety of data management functions to the hospital staff and make the organization operate with more competitiveness in its industry (Iyer, Levin, Shea, & Ashton, 133).

The following sections are dedicated to explain the concept, history, and applications of Electronic Medical Records in the modern heath care field. The opening section defines EMRs with a brief look on their advent as the most advanced health information systems of the present times. The later sections explain their applications, benefits, and future in the health care industry in the light of modern academic and medical research publications.

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs):

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are specialized software that are designed to meet the data management needs of hospitals, medical laboratories, and other health care institutions. Electronic Medical Records; also known as Medical Record Management Software (MRMS) are computerized health information systems that are developed by it companies for the usage of large health care institutions so that they can effectively manage their important information (Iyer, Levin, Shea, & Ashton, 135). EMRs are primarily used for the purpose of data management; including editing, modification, storage, and easy retrieval of data in an efficient and well-organized way. EMRs are among the few heaviest investments that a health care institution ever makes in its life (Scott, 59).

The History of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs):

Electronic Medical Records is not a new term in the it or Medical field, but it become more popular during the last decade. Now every large hospital, medical laboratory, and health care institution has an EMR instituted within its operational setup. The need to develop a computerized health information system arose when hospitals realized that human beings are not efficient enough to deal with a variety and masses of information in the form of medical records, patients' history, laboratory tests files, and other documents used in their day-to-day operations (Tranberg & Rashbass, 79).

The term Electronic Medical Records was first used by Lawrence Weed in 1960s when he highlighted a need to develop such a system that could improve the efficiency of hospital staff and enable them to take care of patients in a more effective way. Realizing this need, a large number of health care institutions contacted it vendors to develop such systems for them. The designing and development of EMRs started in the late 1970s. During 1980s, numerous researches were done to highlight the significance of these systems for the efficient and effective functioning of hospitals and medical laboratories. Now in the 21st Century, EMRs have become an important asset and an integral part of the operational setups of these organizations.

Applications of Electronic Medical Records:

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have brought tremendous changes in the way health care institutions used to perform their day-to-day functions. Now they are able to access, edit, modify, store, and retrieve their important information with more efficiency and speed (Tranberg & Rashbass, 79). The application of EMRs is more seen in large scale hospitals, medical laboratories, and health care organizations. It is because they have to deal with masses of information of their patients, supply chain members, regulatory institutions, and employees. In the presence of EMRs in their operational setups, health care organizations do not face any difficulty in accessing the required pieces of information whenever they are required. With EMRs installed in the organization, hospital staff can easily find the records of their patients without searching the whole files and documents around them (Schatz & Berlin, 264).

Electronic Medical Records are also implemented for the security and accuracy of information within health care organizations. As per the medical research studies, the most important thing for a hospital to care about is providing an accurate information to its patients. It is because a small wrong piece of information can cause serious health issues to patients. EMRs are highly reliable computerized systems that search the information of every patient after full verification of his particulars. Thus, the chances of giving wrong information to the patients are completely eliminated (Scott, 60).

In large scale hospitals and laboratories, the medical record of patients passes through various departments so that a final report can be prepared. Through EMRs, every department remains connected with all other departments. In this way, hospital staff can share important files and documents with each other so that all functions can be performed smoothly and accurately (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 110). EMRs enable them to access all the available information and record of patients at the same time. Doctors and physicians can also share and consult the health problems, issues, and matters of their patients with doctors in other hospitals by approaching them through internet and giving access to their EMRs (Tranberg & Rashbass, 56).