As mentioned multiple times, electronic health records provides abundance of benefits. First of all, a study has been done at one of the Kaiser Hospitals. About 170,000 diabetic patients were introduced to electronic health records between 2005 and 2008. The study recorded from 2004 to 2009 and found that the number of diabetic patients going into the emergency room declined by 5.5 percent.
Another study has been done which resulted that electronic health records help detect growth disorders of children in Finland. Using the automated growth monitoring (AGM) program which includes electronic health records, helped doctors diagnose about 28 out of 32,400 children with growth disorders compared to only four children out of 33,000 without the program (“Two Studies Highlight”).
Electronic health records also allow doctors to easily access the medical records without hunting for them in their charts. Paper records are also more vulnerable to lost copies. Once lost, it is impossible to retrieve. Many hospitals does not make additional copies. Electronic health records can be retrieved easily. Electronic health records can also eliminate illegible hand writings (Connors). This technology can also improve care by viewing the medication history of the patient.
There are many medications that go against each other so it is important for providers to be knowledgeable on the medications the patients are on so when they prescribe, it does not counteract with the other medications. Patients tend to not reveal all of their medication list or believe it is unnecessary to talk about since they don’t take it all the time (Electronic Health Records).
Electronic health records also double checks physician’s orders. For example, if a patient has an allergy to something related to penicillin which is about to be prescribed, there is a warning sign that appears giving notice to the doctor. The system also reminds the provider to repeat any tests such as blood work every year so that the patient gets new results annually without forgetting about them (Electronic health records).