Health records are the records about patient information; the age, gender, disease, and other historical information about the patient’s health. These records are important when it comes to managing health care programs. There are several groups of people and professionals who need these records for efficient and proper health care. These people include; patients, physicians, students in allied health programs to the health care institution and medical coding specialists. These people use health records for different reasons.
Patients are the people whom the records are about. These records are important to patients in various ways. First, the records contain the health history of the patient. From this history, the patients will know what kind of disease they suffer from, their prescriptions, and the manner in which they should handle themselves when ill. The health records are also important in a wy that the patients can use these records to know the kind of diet they should take. In short, patients need to be fully aware of their health records all the time so as to maintain good health even away from hospitals.
Physicians are the medical professionals who treat patients. They include doctors and nurses. These professionals use these health records to know a patient’s past illnesses and can relate it to the current situation when making diagnosis and prescriptions. Health records also help doctors to tell what kind of disease a patient is suffering from and what stage of the disease it is. For example, a cancer patient’s records can be used to tell what stage the cancer is by looking at the time the patient has had cancer.
Medical coding specialists are the people who code medical information. They are responsible for the improvisation of shortforms for the long medical terms. Health records are stored in form of codes. Therefore, coding officers are responsible for the recording of health records. Medical coding officers use health records to determine which records need new codes, or which codes need to be changed.
Other people who need to know about health records are the students in allied health programs to hospitals like Elburn hospital. These are students who are learning and specialising in medicine. Therefore, they need to familiarize themselves with health records, how they are handled and how they are prepared. This will enable them to develop into informed and sharp medical officers in future. These groups of people’s master of health records and techniques will ensure effective provision of medical services in health care centres.
Reference
OECD health policy studies. (2010). Improving Value in Health Care: Measuring Quality (illustrated ed.). London: OECD Publishing.
