The Pros And Cons Of Electronic Medical Records

The new phenomenon in hospital and private doctor offices are Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are digital versions of an individual patient’s paper chart that contains all the patient's medical history. Electronic records have multiple advantages. EMRs help providers better manage care for patients. It reduces the huge paper records that needed to be stored that were difficult to manage and retrieve. It provides accurate, up-to-date, and complete information about patients. It allows quick access to patient records for more organized and efficient care. Data about a patient can be shared electronically with the patients and with other healthcare providers. EMR helps providers more effectively diagnose patients while reducing medical errors. Improvements are done through better taking of medical notes and reducing repetitions. EMR systems allow patient records to be accessed anytime and on multiple devices. Once the patient record is open it alerts …show more content…
Privacy is one of the major disadvantage when it comes to electronic health records. Identity theft can occur when an unethical person gains access to confidential records and ultimately put an organization at risk. To secure patient data and other viable information, certain things should be encrypted within the EMR database, and have fingerprint sign in to tract staff and information being seen. Another challenge EMR faces is a high startup cost. Hospitals and facilities must pay for the hardware and software, the setup, maintenance, training of the staff, IT support and system updates. This a disadvantage for smaller facility that don’t have the funds to implement the EMR system. Another disadvantage would be if the system crashes. This would mean the hospital won’t be able to get the information they need to diagnose and treat the patients. Therefore, they should back up the data entered into the