Electronic Health Records (EHR)

Electronic Health Records (also known as EHR’s) are the portions of a patient’s medical records that are stored in a computer system as well as the functional benefits derived from having an electronic health record. They are also called or known as electronic medical records, and electronic charts (Gartee, P. 311) EHR’s were first invented nearly 50 years ago. Since being invented, EHR’s have made entering and seeking medical information easier and faster for both doctors and nurses. EHR’s also having many benefits that go along with them as mentioned before make it easy to search, find, and share patient’s information. This is much better than dealing with paper records. There are four main benefits that come from EHR’s, they are: alerts,
Paper Charts are organized by source-oriented, problem-oriented, or integrated method (Gartee, P. 130). EHR’s on the other hand don’t use that particular format. They are stored on a computer database by a method called random access. This data is instantly organized once it’s retrieved. Once it has been organized the data is displayed in various ways, they are often referred to as views or reports. By the views EHR’s can rearrange to data if need be and at the same time they can show a source-oriented chart, problem-oriented chart, of integrated chart, the same way as paper charts (Gartee, P.
Health maintenance in general is the maintenance of a patient’s health. To prevent disease or to detect them early is good health maintenance. If a patient doesn’t keep up with their health they can fall critically ill. There are two main parts to health maintenance; they are preventive care and immunization. Preventive care is a type of care this reminds the patient when it is time for checkups and health screenings. A simple post card or letter can be sent to the patient to help remind them. These reminders help the patient to stay up to date with their health and to stay healthy. This system is sometimes referred to as health maintenance systems or preventive care systems (Gartee, P. 159-160). Immunization is the second part to health maintenance. Immunizations should be taken by everyone throughout their life time. Patients are required to take certain vaccines at different times in order to prevent diseases and illnesses, although all vaccines cannot be taken all at once. HER’s help to keep up with all the vaccines the patient has taken the ones they have not taken. As stated before, all vaccines are spread throughout the patient’s lifetime, but most vaccines are taken from birth up to 18 years of age. The EHR system will also notify the patient if they need to come in for a vaccine renewal (Gartee, P.