Question

What would you consider a disadvantage of EHR technology and medical device use?

Answer 1

Medical records are the documented evidence of the medical history of the patients. As these records contain all the past and present medical status of the patient, they are very important to physicians in the diagnosis and choosing treatment procedures as well. Electronic information system (EHR) provides more space to store a huge amount of patient information and it is easy to recollect the data whenever necessary, this is important in case of emergency. Paper documentation is severely limited, it is difficult to recollect the information whenever necessary and can be easily damaged as well. The frequency of missing information is high.

One important advantage of EHR is it is the readily available information for anyone who needs it, plays a key role in providing better patient care and safety.

The disadvantage is it can be safely operated only by people who have minimum technical skills, may be a problem for illiterate people. They may be accessed by the other staff members if the access is not restricted. The initial installation cost is also higher.

To avoid the issues of operating and maintaining electronic health records, the following measures can be considered.

1). Train the medical staff and physicians to access the electronic health records appropriately. This must also include the skills of identifying unauthorized access.

2). Encourage the healthcare professionals to participate in the designing and maintenance of EHR.

3). Safe storage of information from time to time in the external drive is always suggested to avoid the data loss due to unexpected data loss.