The History of EMR

Thursday, August 23, 2012 | Unknown at 5:35 PM |

The history of medical records systems, used in hospitals these days and are more common than ever, dates back to the 1960s. It was in that year that the concept for such a system was laid out in order to improve medical care provided to the patients and to decrease the death rate. There is no doubt that these medical records systems really achieved the goal for which they were devised. However, it was after a long time of experimentation and work by leading doctors and scientists that such an effective system was born. The history of medical records systems is really interesting to know.
The concept was first laid out by a doctor, Lawrence Lee Weed who gave this concept for a part of the PROMIS project in the University of Vermont. What he didn't know was that such a concept would actually become basis for future work and finally the creation of an effective medical records system and medical software which is now recommended by the government for every hospital and health care provider to use it.
After the initial concept by Lawrence Lee weed to have such a kind of health records system, the scientists and IT experts began their work at the PROMIS project to devise such a health records system that it would improve the level of care a patient received.
The goal was to make an automated medical software system that would automatically record all information about the patient and would make it easier to access the information too quickly. With an automated system, doctors believed that it would become easier to quickly access and find the information related to a particular patient and provide him urgent care. After many efforts, the concept finally led to the creation of PMD, a record system used in The Medical Center Hospital of Vermont for the first time in 1970. After that many other medical records systems were born and used in hospitals around the country.
The idea that information technology and health care are two opposite industries and one cannot be integrated with another is historical now. These days, a lot of colleges around the country offer health care and IT courses which help the health care providers to learn how to use medical IT systems in their practice. Nowadays, a health care provider having some expertise in the IT field, at least related to health care IT systems, is more valued now than a provider who has no expertise whatsoever and faces problem in switching to the use of medical IT systems to record patient data.
There are many reasons why a health care provider should know more about health care and IT and should take those courses. Although, these courses would add to the cost of education but in the long run, this cost is really worth it.