Technology is creeping further and further into the doctor’s office as more and more doctors are trading in paper patient charts for laptops and big film copies of MRI images to ones on Cd’s. As more doctors switch over to electronic records, it is important to understand just how beneficial this is for patients, doctors and everyone involved in the health care industry.

Electronic records mean that records are kept on a computer instead of on paper. Often, they are called EHRs, and are important because of their “meaningful use ” – otherwise known as their ability to improve patient care. Electronic health records become meaningful when they make it easier to make copies of your health records, as well as making it easier to read and understand them. Perhaps the most important aspect, though, is that electronic health records are easier to share between doctors, hospitals and patients than paper health records have previously been. This means that important information about your health can be passed quicker and more accurately, resulting in better care for a patient. Electronic records can also mean less errors and lower costs.

Instead of multiple doctors each keeping separate health records relating to their specialties, charts can be easily passed between doctors to develop a more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health.

Electronic records can also make life easier for a patient after care. Follow up care can easily be provided for a patient without effort including things like picture of physical therapy exercises.

Because of the many benefits of electronic records, the switch from paper to electronic records is inevitable. At the moment, though, most health records are still kept on paper charts. But recently the Government has started introducing incentives to hospitals in order to help switch an industry in transition switch from paper records over to the more helpful electronic ones.