Electronic Medical
Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) are two words which are often
interchanged and used. Are they the same? Are they different? Read on to find
out!
EMR and EHR are both
electronic records but are separated by a difference in the meanings of the
words, medical and health. An EMR is a patient’s health records and data which
are specific to a single practice. Here the word practice could be applicable
to a hospital, a doctor, a physician, a nurse, or any exclusive medical
practioner. An EMR software is predominantly used by the specific medical professional
to diagnose the ailments of the patient, and is not available directly to the
patient for carrying outside the realm of the practice. Its availability is
local and is a property of the practice at which it is created.
An EHR, on the other
hand, is an inclusive digital form of a patient’s clinical data set which is
available online and on real-time. It is shared between different medical
practioners collaborating to cure a patient, and is aimed at helping in quicker
decision making.
For a better
understanding, imagine that a person has three different problems A, B, and C.
To solve each of these problems, a different specialist is needed. An EMR would
be an exclusive record that each of these doctors would keep to jot down the
steps needed to solve A, B, and C, and an EHR would be the inclusive report
which gives access to the solutions of problem A, problem B, and problem C,
which would aid in the overall treatment of the patient. . In order words, the
EHR provides a holistic view of the various EMRs that a patient would have.
The bottom-line is
that Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are not for sharing while EHRs are meant for sharing and
collaboration. Both of these are electronic, and help in curing a patient
faster.
