Dr Juliet Rumball-Smith, our clinical director, along with our CEO Dr Kevin Ross and US colleague Dr David B Yates, have published their first BMJ Quality & Safety Viewpoint article, ‘Late adopters of the electronic health record should move now’.
They argue that those who ‘under use’ electronic health record (EHR) technology – such as countries, hospitals or individual clinicians – should embrace it, and will benefit from improved quality of healthcare, reduction in operational inefficiencies, and financial savings.
Kevin says that technology has come a long way, and that previous reluctance to embrace EHRs is based on early experience with older technology.
“The EHR is often the infrastructure that makes other things work. We usually see value more easily in the applications that link to an electronic health record, rather than the record itself,” says Kevin.
“A contemporary EHR should have patients and clinical teams at the very centre, with its primary function to deliver high quality, equitable care,” says Juliet.
Dr Juliet Rumball-Smith, Clinical Director, Precision Driven Health
While Juliet says it could take decades to achieve full adoption and use of an integrated cross-sector EHR, the technology can bring significant benefits to both patients and the health system.
“A contemporary EHR should have patients and clinical teams at the very centre, with its primary function to deliver high quality, equitable care,” says Juliet.
Read the full article, ‘Late adopters of the electronic health record should move now’, published in BMJ Quality & Safety.