Personal Health Records in Nursing Practice and Patient Care
This paper examines personal health records (PHRs) as a critical component of health information systems in modern nursing practice. It defines the PHR, distinguishes it from legal medical records, and explains how it empowers patients to manage their own health data across multiple sources. The paper addresses the necessity of PHRs for improving patient engagement, reducing provider burden, and closing communication gaps. It also covers data integrity, HIPAA-related privacy protections, and ethical security considerations. Drawing on both scholarly sources and personal nursing experience with a tethered PHR system, the author argues that broader adoption of PHRs across healthcare facilities would improve quality of care and patient outcomes.
- Introduction: Defines PHRs and states paper's purpose
- Why PHRs Are Necessary: PHRs improve access and reduce provider burden
- Data Integrity, Ethics, and Security: HIPAA, privacy, and secure PHR design
- PHRs as Best Practice in Patient Engagement: Literature supports PHRs for preventive care
- Personal Experience with Tethered PHR Systems: Author's firsthand tethered PHR experience
- Conclusion: PHRs recommended for all healthcare facilities
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its argument in both peer-reviewed sources and a concrete personal experience, making the case for PHRs both evidence-based and relatable.
- It clearly defines key terms (PHR, tethered PHR, EHR) early and consistently applies them throughout, giving the paper terminological coherence.
- The integration of ethical and legal considerations — specifically HIPAA compliance and data integrity — strengthens the paper's credibility and shows awareness of real-world implementation concerns.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses a personal narrative section to support a broader academic argument — a technique common in reflective nursing papers. Rather than relying solely on anecdote, the author frames personal PHR use as confirmatory evidence for the scholarly literature, then connects the experience back to professional implications for nursing practice. This moves the reflection from purely subjective to analytically purposeful.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear five-part structure: an introduction defining PHRs and stating the paper's purpose; a necessity argument supported by professional association guidance; a focused section on security, ethics, and HIPAA; a best-practice synthesis drawing on health informatics literature; a personal experience narrative about tethered PHR use; and a conclusion that synthesizes findings and issues a practice recommendation. This mirrors the standard nursing reflective essay format and is appropriate for an undergraduate healthcare informatics course.
Introduction
Information systems in health care are critical to processing and storing data related to patients and patient services, which in turn ensures that safe, quality care is provided to every patient (Heeks, 2006). One area that needs focus among health care providers is the personal health record (PHR), as Kahn, Aulakh, and Bosworth (2009) point out: a gap exists between what patients receive in terms of their personal health information and what they expect and want.
The ideal personal health record is one in which the digital application is easily used by patients to help them manage and maintain their health information in an accurate, secure, private, and effective way (Health IT, 2013). The PHR should be managed by patients so that they can store data from multiple sources, such as their health care providers or themselves. It allows them to monitor their diet or exercise plans, view their medication lists, review their treatment history, and so on. It is not a legal record to be used by a health care provider but is instead wholly for the patient's own use, so that the patient can be more informed about his or her own treatment.
The purpose of the PHR is to enable the patient to be more included in his or her own treatment plan and care services, so that whatever intervention is recommended is one that the patient can take ownership of. This paper discusses PHRs and shows how they can be applied in nursing practice to enhance quality care for patients. It also describes personal experience with PHRs and explains why patients can benefit from their usage.
Why PHRs Are Necessary
As the American Health Information Management Association (2017) points out, "Providing individuals with access to their health information is necessary in delivering high quality care" (p. 1), and PHRs are one way to help make that happen. The purpose of the PHR is to help health care providers use the digital technology now available — thanks to advancements in electronic technology in the Digital Age — and apply those advancements to client services. PHRs allow patients to stay informed about their own treatment care and to be up to date on their own personal health information.
By allowing patients access to their own medical records through the PHR, providers give patients an opportunity to reduce costs associated with retrieving information through third parties. The problem, however, is that too few providers and patients are aware of the benefits of PHRs and do not take the time to use or promote them. For health care providers, educating patients about how to use PHRs can save both time and money by placing more ownership of staying informed about personal health on the patient (American Health Information Management Association, 2017). In other words, the PHR empowers the patient to stay focused on their own health instead of having to rely on the provider to conduct follow-ups or retrieve information upon patient request. The PHR gives patients the power to do that on their own.
Data Integrity, Ethics, and Security
The PHR is also designed to be a safe and secure system in which the patient alone has access to the information provided. As Haes and Grembergen (2009) note, it is very important in today's health care industry to provide patients with an expert level of care in terms of data and personal information security — especially in an environment where websites and browsers collect data on users and sell it to third parties without users' knowledge. PHRs are meant to be private and are designed to maintain data integrity, meaning that no information is altered or changed through use of the PHR; data stays true to what it was when originally compiled by the provider. PHRs are also designed to be secure so that patient information is not released to third parties.
The ethical terms by which the PHR should be provided include the ability to secure the system against hacking, to prevent information from being lost or altered, and to ensure that patients have access when they need it. The system is designed to be confidential, and HIPAA law requires that patient information not be shared with anyone other than the patient without the patient's consent. The PHR ensures the patient's right to privacy by allowing only the patient to access their data through a special portal in the provider's information system designed specifically for patient usage.
Conclusion
The PHR is a personal health record that can be used by the patient to access his or her own medical records. In a tethered PHR, the patient's portal provides secure entry into the provider's EHR database so that patients can view their own information, check lab reports, or receive reminders about screening schedules. It is a way for the patient to stay current on information regarding their own health without having to call the facility, be placed on hold, locate the right person to speak with, or wait for a provider to call back with lab results. The PHR empowers the patient to take ownership of their health care and to remain informed and engaged in their own treatment plan.
The PHR can help close the gap between patients and providers that exists as a result of insufficient communication, and it can enhance quality care by ensuring that patients have all the information they need. It provides peace of mind for patients — as personal experience has shown — because it allows patients to see all the data that their medical providers have on record. When patients worry that their providers do not have all the necessary information, anxiety can develop; the PHR allows those fears to be put to rest.
This subject has provided insight into nursing care practice and has inspired a desire to promote the use of PHRs among patients and providers alike, so that both understand the benefits of this important health records system. Information sharing is one of the most significant innovations to emerge in the Digital Age. Technology has made it possible for people to communicate and share important data, and security in data-sharing systems has improved so that personal information is protected and shared privately only between the provider and the patient. This type of system is especially helpful for patients who are coming of age in the Digital Era, as it is consistent with the kind of access they already expect from digital information-sharing tools. Based on this review of the literature and personal experience, PHRs should be implemented in all health care facilities.
References
American Health Information Management Association. (2017). Analyzing patient access to personal health information. Retrieved from
Haes, S., & Grembergen, W. (2009). Exploratory study in IT governance implementations and its impact on business/IT alignment. Information Systems Management, 26, 123–137.
Health IT. (2013). What is a personal health record? Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/faqs/what-personal-health-record
Heeks, R. (2006). Health information systems: Failure, success and improvisation. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 75(2), 125–137.
Kahn, J. S., Aulakh, V., & Bosworth, A. (2009). What it takes: Characteristics of the ideal personal health record. Health Affairs, 28(2), 369–376.
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