The purpose of the health record was to create a permanent, centralized medical record for health information and to speed up the medical process. This is usually done in hospitals, doctors offices and nursing homes. Although this system has its advantages, there are also some major disadvantages that are worth addressing. The purpose is to facilitate better care and treatment for the individual while still maintaining patient confidentiality. However, there are several problems with this system which we will discuss below.
One of the main issues regarding the purpose of the health
Health record is that it requires the patients to sign their own name. Since signatures cannot be trusted, there are high chances that medical records can be tampered by patients or other people around the medical facility. Signing one’s name alone is not enough as one should be able to prove that they actually made these notes and signed it voluntarily.
Another issue concerns the security of the data.
Most medical facilities have implemented secure encryption methods for the purpose of protecting the privacy of the patients’ health records. Encryption keys are generated by the centralized computer system and are stored securely. However, if a computer system breaks down or gets lost, the encryption key can also be lost. Thus, if the patient’s privacy is protected by a secure lock on his file, then there is no way that the doctor can open it and look at the patient’s files.
The health record can also contain inaccuracies.
This can happen if the paper used to generate the record is not up to date. Inaccuracy may occur due to sloppy recording practices or the simple errors in entering data. Another issue concerning the health record pertains to errors in coding. Sometimes, the coding of a patient’s medical condition is wrong causing the classification of the patient as good or bad. Thus, this leads to misinterpretation of data leading to double diagnosis and even mistreatment of patients.
The purpose of the health record is to serve as a medical reference
By allowing a doctor to know what treatment a patient should undergo for a certain ailment. Thus, it is a must to implement a method that allows doctors to easily identify which treatment will cure a patient and which will not. While all these points are important, the most important purpose of the health record is to allow a doctor to quickly refer back to the health record when needed.
Doctors and other medical staff members are required by law to keep track of their patients’ medical history in a confidential record. However, some patients are not always satisfied with the contents of the health records and ask for changes or additions to the record. For this reason, the purpose of the health record is to allow a doctor to make any necessary changes to the health records, without divulging the contents of the file. Thus, a patient who requires certain information in order to make a decision about a certain health-related treatment must always request for such information.
