The Record wherein all necessary health information about a patient is maintained by the patient himself is known as Personal Health Record (PHR). The web based personal health records are the accurate summary of an individual’s medical history, also accessible online, being preserved by the patient.
A typical grouping of information about an individual is stored in a PHR. It is maintained and managed by patients in electronic format in a private and secure manner. Data contained in PHR are considered confidential and accessible to the patients as well as his doctors at any time.
Medical Records take various forms according to the need on the contextual requirement. There are Electronic Health Records, Paper-based Medical Records, and Electronic Medical Records. Normally, whatever health information one wishes to store, and be of help to medical professionals in serving patients, is considered as personal health records. Basic information stored are as under:
An individual’s primary care physician’s name address details
Medications with dosage particulars
Allergies and Medication reaction data
Details of Chronic ailments like Diabetes
Surgery details, if any, with date details
Hereditary information
History of Immunization
Web based personal health records software sometimes have proven to be life saving instruments in that during emergencies, quick access to personal health information such as Blood pressure, previous surgery history, etc., provide precious help to medical service providers in treating patients. Medication, allergy details and contact doctor information can play vital role in certain situations—which is being taken care of by PHRs.
A properly and optimally maintained personal health records serves the following purposes:
Organizes Health Care: Personal Health Records software helps in tracking appointments, immunizations, and screening services, thus keeping tab on all important health conditions
Makes Doctor’s visit fully useful: As one has got all necessary data regarding health in hand, interaction with medical service providers can be more fruitful
Keep Tabs on one’s health: By recording information such as weight, cholesterol level, etc., an individual can best track his health parameters and plan to achieve vital things
Management of general health: lets a patient store and analyze personal data and consequently prompts the patient to follow certain crucial instructions
Exchange of vital details between patient and multiple clinicians becomes possible
Assure that vital patient details are available any time, especially during emergencies
Cost of medical care is reduced
It provide easy and quick access, reducing time and effort
Faster and convenient communication between patients and clinicians makes patients more informed and improves their rapport with doctors as well