EMR and Paper Medical Records

Electronic medical record systems have changed the way people enter different types of medical data in the system. People now straightaway store all their medical data on their computer through electronic medical record systems software. There is now no need to enter data on paper, as everything can be stored on the computer. However, paper is often used for printing final reports. Let us have a look at some of the significant differences between paper medical records and electronic medical record system.

In case of paper, medical records the records are identified by the name of the patient or some kind of a medical record number. In case of electronic medical record systems, there is distinct identifying information for each patient and there are special identifiers to locate the digital records of each patient.

The paper recording system is normally maintained in the chronological order of date. Flipping through the pages to find a particular record searches them. The progress notes are prepared in handwriting or transcription. In the case of electronic medical record system, you can easily find an entry by different types of search criteria. Data can be sorted on any field. The progress notes are also prepared automatically by the system.

Paper charts contain demographic information along with a list of diseases, their symptoms, medications and allergies. They have to be regularly updated. The electronic medical record system maintains all information and shares any updated information wherever needed. Changes in one place are automatically in other places as well. The information is automatically passed for billing without any errors. In addition, information such as problem lists and medication lists are updated without duplicated entries so that changing medication in the application automatically updates the patient’s medication list and other information.