EMRs Have Revolutionized Patient Care

Before computerized EMR (Electronic Medical Records) systems became widespread and an important part of good health care provision, hospital and office staff had to keep mountainous paper records that were inefficient and greatly susceptible to human error. EMR has made it possible for medical professionals to obtain and share information within minutes or even seconds and has thereby revolutionized patient care. Here's more about it.

Within the last 20 years, technology has allowed the medical care system to reinvent its record-keeping methods substantially. The newest EMR software systems will practically run an entire doctor's practice due to its wide array of applications! But since keeping patients safe and giving them the best possible care is always paramount in a physician's practice, these are the real reasons why they have become such a valuable part of everyday doctoring as well as emergency response.

Thanks to EMR systems, going to a new doctor is much easier and safer if a patient chooses to do so. In the old days, procedure dictated that a patient fill out a host of health history forms so that the new physician could care for her properly. If the patient forgot important pieces of information such as the name of the new drug she is currently taking or that she has a serious allergy to codeine, her care could have been compromised.

When transferring doctors or obtaining care in case of an emergency, a patient can give a health care professional her name and birth date and a few other informational items. The new professional can then access all of the patient's important information using EMR stored in an accessible data base. There is no "forgotten" information and no human error to get in the way of the patient's receiving the care that she needs. Most existing paper records can be transferred into an EMR system so that no vital info from the past gets lost.

A great example of a great use of EMR is the United States VA hospital system. Every VA facility across the nation uses EMR and keeps its own database of veteran health information and histories. If a veteran from Ames, Iowa falls seriously ill in New Orleans and is admitted to the VA hospital there, those medical professionals will have instant access to all of that veteran's health information and will be able to better diagnose and treat his illness.

It goes without saying, perhaps, that the benefits of EMR extend well beyond patient care. Using such a system makes a medical practice or hospital much more efficient than in the past. Having to employ multiple people to do record-keeping by hand will inevitably eat away at a practice's bottom line, whereas EMR does the job of many with fewer, if any, errors. Electronic health record software can often be combined with billing software, which will further cut costs and improve overall efficiency.

After implementing and learning how to use EMR systems, most health professionals cannot even fathom the concept of going back to the "old ways" of paper filing again. EMR is truly a records revolution.