How Electronic Health Records Benefit Healthcare Providers And Patients?

The use of technology in healthcare industry is nothing new. Different kinds of software are now being used in various hospitals and healthcare facilities to make things easier for the patient and doctor. One such step is use of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The use of EHR has helped in shifting from paper prescriptions and charts to electronic medical records.

How Electronic Health Records Can Benefit Patients And Doctors

Many healthcare experts opine that electronic health records contain fewer errors when compared to records that come in papers. Sometimes prints on papers can be smudged or faded away with time, making it impossible to read. There is no chance of this type of data loss with electronic records. Cloud Computing Technology in Healthcare enabled service that is rapidly making its foothold in healthcare industry.
  • EHR helps in improving communication between different physicians treating the same patient.
    • Each doctor has access to the entire medical history of the patient. Treating the patient based onthe snapshot kind overview from the current visit might not bring good results for the patient always. Once the entire medical history is accessed, it is possible to carry out in-depth evaluation of the patient's condition. This leads to an accurate diagnosis in short span of time.
  • Following up with patients is also easy with the electronic health records.
    • Doctors can continuously track the process of treatment being carried out on the patient. Even if the patient is under supervision of multiple doctors, all the reports are accumulated at the same place. This helps every doctor to take a look at all the reports, if needed and carry out further treatment. Latest test reports and findings can also be available at the same place.
  • Electronic health records are very useful during emergency situations.
    • Health care providers can get critical information regarding the patient's health so that immediate medical assistance can be provided. These records are also useful when the patient forgets to bring his previous prescriptions and reports during a doctor's visit.

EHR have proved to be really useful during catastrophic incidents, where the patient might not be able to furnish personal medical details. With patient information available in the electronic format, it can be accessed anytime andanywhere.

Development Of EHR Application

With ever-increasing demand of electronic health records in hospitals and other private healthcare facilities, many software development companies are offering EHR Consulting Services. The EHR systems should be built in a robust manner so that health care providers have easy access to clinical data of the patient at any point of time and from different locations. Some important points to consider in EHR development and implementation are as follows:
  • High security and compliance
  • Customization of workflow for better EHR usage
  • Higher data efficiency for better clinical and economical results
  • Scalable and reliable solutions as per customers' needs
  • Easy-to-use templates, reports and user interface
Initially it might take some time for the patient as well as the healthcare provider to get used to the EHRapplication. Once it becomes easy, there is no better solution to improve the quality of patient care and speed up the treatment process.