Electronic Medical Records
Emily Bartlett
Good or Bad?
As technology continues to boom in our generation, many old school methods are finding themselves transitioning to the way of technology. Mostly everyone that has been visiting the doctor for at least ten years has noticed the huge paper file of their information. As the technology era continues to thrive, many doctor’s offices and hospitals have decided to transfer all their paper medical records into electronic medical records. Obama had also released that in the next five years, all medical records will be electronic. The real question is whether or not the transformation from paper to electronic will be as beneficial as believed to be. This leads us to the question of are electronic medical records good or bad? Almost any debative question can be answered in two different ways. Our topic does not exclude itself from the same exact thing. “The electronic medical record (EMR) is an enabling technology that allows physician practices to pursue more powerful quality improvement programs than is possible with paper-based records. However, achieving quality improvement through EMR use is neither low-cost nor easy.” While the introduction promotes more quality into its productions, it’s not as easy as it sounds. The price and the effort needed to transfer all the paper medical records into electronic medical records almost outweigh the benefits. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, it will pay off. However, sometimes it almost as beneficial to keep the records how they have been. When they’re electronic, it’s easy to input information and see all existing information you have on that patient. While electronic medical records are very beneficial, they have some cons that some people would rather not deal with.My opinion on the topic is that electronic medical records. While it may be a hassle to transfer all the information, it’s worth it. Instead of searching through a file for 30 minutes, you can just use the search engine and have the information you need to come up in .5 seconds. Whether we accept it or not, technology is the center of this world. Why waste precious time looking through paper files when you could be doing something more productive? It’s simply a debate of how you want to spend your time and put your effort in. You can spend the time transferring the medical records onto the computer and save you time in the long run.