These days, it has become necessary for health care facilities to make use of digital methods to keep their records in order to better serve their patients and clients. This is why the terms electronic health records and electronic medical records have become more and more commonly used. But while some of us might use these two terms interchangeably, EHRs and EMRs have some differences that designate them as distinct terms that don’t actually mean the same thing.
What is an EMR?
An electronic medical record or EMR is a log of an individual’s history, diagnoses, and treatments given over a course of time by a specific health care provider. If for example a pregnant woman visits her obstetrician gynaecologist for check-ups, the digital record of her visits to that particular doctor will be referred to as an electronic medical record. These documents are not intended for sharing with other health care providers or professionals, and are strictly for the purpose of helping the particular doctor, nurse, or specialist that made them keep track of a patient’s course of treatment.
What is an EHR?
An electronic health record or EHR is an overview of a person’s complete medical history including all past and present treatments from all specialist, professionals, and health care providers they may have sought consultation from in the past. If for example, the same pregnant woman from the previous example also had several check-ups in the past with a orthopaedic specialist and the findings that he made were relevant to her current pregnancy, he would collaborate with the obstetrician gynaecologist to come up with an electronic health record. These are more encompassing than a medical record, and are intended to be shared among different professionals to come up with a holistic health care plan that can properly treat and manage a person’s case or condition.
The Main Differences
1. An electronic health record is a collection of different treatments, diagnoses, and managements given to a single person across different planes of the health care system. This includes information from all the different doctors and specialists a person has seen and consulted with in their lifetime. Basically, it is a complete log of a person’s medical history.
2. An electronic medical record is a more specific document that explores a single facet of the entire medical history. This is exclusively used by a single specialist, provider, doctor, or professional for the purpose of keeping track of a person’s treatment and progress for that single branch of medicine.
