1) Personal Health Records (PHR) is a record of the medical and
health related information of a person which is stored online. It
stores previous and present health related data of an individual
along with any history of particular illnesses.
2) The data that is captured in PHR could be
- Lab test reports
- Medical history of self and family
- Allergies
- Surgeries undertaken in the past
- Medical prescriptions
- vital stats
- prior hospitalization records
- X-rays, MRI, ECG data etc
3) The data stored in PHR is collected through following
methods:
- Separate websites created for the purpose of collecting
data.
- Data sent over through smartphones
- Internet Applications such as HealthVault
- ?Automated interfaces such as a blood sugar monitor which saves
the results onto the patient's PHR
- Bills and hospitalization records.
- Health Surveys
?4) The benefits of using PHR is explained below:
- People can manage their health and their ailments more
efficiently due to the availability of entire health related data
at a common place and ease of accessing this health related
data.
- Saves money and time by giving access to any previous health
results which may otherwise require another lab test to be
conducted.
- Ease of accessing the data from any location due to the storage
of data being online.
Risks of using PHRs is as below:
- Unauthorized access to the data by third
party: Hacking and other technological means may make the
sensitive patient data susceptible to attack.
- Technological Constraints: It may prove
difficult for the PHR service providers to maintain the security
and integrity of the databases holding patient information.
- Threat of misuse of data: There is a threat to
the data being used by third party people for reasons other than
the intended purpose of PHRs