The race to a paperless society

It’s amazing how once you notice something, you start paying attention and by paying attention you discover a whole new world.

Several weeks ago I wrote an article on portable medical records and the possible uses of technology to bring part of the medical records from the novelty state to a conventional medical device. A few weeks later, I was introduced to a new generation of portable medical records that were capable of synchronizing with electronic medical records in a doctor’s office or hospital.

For those of you who are not familiar with portable medical records, please allow me a moment to give you some definitions. A portable medical record is a USB memory device, such as a USB memory stick, USB bracelet, USB memory wristwatch, pendant, or other portable mass storage device that can be worn on the body attached to a belt or keys. and contains basic medical information. in the form of a database. Almost all of these devices are now password protected and offer different levels of functionality.

A personal health record is the online equivalent of a portable medical record. This software exists on the Internet with storage maintained on a third party site. The information is again password protected and can be accessed by the healthcare provider in an emergency with an Internet connection and that password.

An electronic medical record is a software package used by physicians in hospital healthcare facilities that replaces a patient’s paper record. This is an official document and is subject to important government regulations. By 2008, all health care providers in the United States should be executing concrete plans to transition from paper to electronic records, and by 2014 all paper should be gone.

With that in mind, let’s now return to portable medical records. This is a market that is exploding. A few weeks ago I wrote an article, my second in this field, describing nine such products. Two days ago I did a new Google search on this topic (okay, I was desperate for an article topic) and found no less than 24 companies now offering these devices in the United States, Canada, and England. Many of these devices are now made in Taiwan and China and installed directly on flash drives. They come in all shapes, sizes, and shapes, but unfortunately with little to no functionality.

Yes, they all have some form of password protection and an emergency screen where basic information can be viewed without the use of the password. They contain information such as living wills, organ donor cards, surrogate health care contracts, medical history, allergies, medications, and some contain higher levels of data. Two of them integrate with online personal medical records, but only one can import and export to electronic medical records.

However, neither of these systems has a building block necessary for credibility in the medical world. It is called change tracking and it is the ability of the healthcare professional who reads the portable medical record to see what changes have been made to the portable medical record and what existed in the record before the change was made. Change tracking is an internal audit of the system and ensures that there have been no life-threatening alterations to a patient.

At least no such system existed until this week. This week [http://www.theoriginalmymedicalrecords.com] announced the release of the Version 1.2 prototype, a portable medical record with change tracking, high-level encryption and password protection.

This is really something new and represents a second generation of portable medical records.

Where will this new medical device find a home?

As splash- or water-resistant USB drives, these drives are already finding a home on the wrists of divers, skydivers, mountain bikers, and others who enjoy high-risk / fun sports.

But I imagine a bigger market. Imagine a day where, instead of receiving a flimsy paper bracelet in the hospital or nursing home, a patient has a portable medical record in a waterproof bracelet around the wrist. When the nurse arrives with her wireless tablet to record, she simply plugs in the patient record strip and the records are instantly synced. The patient goes nowhere without his wrist chart.

When they return home, the patient takes the band with the complete miniature token. The hospital has your copy. The patient has their copy and their copy returns to the doctor’s office.

In the event of an emergency, the patient’s band is on their wrist and no matter which ER they go to, the ER that picks them up, all important information is at the fingertips of those there to save their lives.

Imagine the day my Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MDMS / DMAT-FL3) cares for a Katrina-like event after a natural disaster with subsequent flooding and wraps a USB memory bracelet around each person’s wrist. evacuated. Information on federal assistance, a missing family member search registry, their own personal information as well as a health record will travel with them from the time of rescue to their final destination. If you already had a personal medical history on your wrist or in your pocket or around your neck as independent, we at the MDMS / DMAT-FL3 could connect your device to our computers and upload important information to help you get your life back and help us. to treat their wounds.

This second generation of flash memory devices holds great promise not only for information transfer, but even for preventing medical errors by ensuring that the most basic information is in the hands of those who make the most important decisions.

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