What are the Benefits of Electronic Medical Records?
Physicians, patients, and healthcare facilities benefit in several ways from the implementation of electronic medical records.
Electronic Medical Records are More Secure
In the past, physical medical records were stored in filing cabinets where they were readily accessible to doctors but were also vulnerable to theft, fire or flood. If a medical record was lost or destroyed, the information might not be stored anywhere else and physicians would be left without records of patient medical history, including treatments, prescriptions, and other potentially life-saving data. Today, electronic medical records are securely stored in cloud servers where they are significantly less vulnerable to loss or theft.
Electronic Medical Records can Reduce Medical Errors
Handwritten medical records are often recorded quickly between appointments, resulting in illegible notes that are difficult or impossible to interpret and can lead to medical errors if interpreted incorrectly. Electronic medical records help standardize the documentation of patient interactions and ensure that all records are legible and can be reviewed by other healthcare professionals.
Electronic Medical Records Ensure Timely Access to Information
To make the best patient care decisions in an emergency situation, physicians need access to patient medical history data as quickly as possible. With the widespread adoption of electronic medical records, a physician may be able to access a digital version of a patient’s medical history instead of having to call their family doctor to retrieve paper records and send them by fax or mail.
