Session 1-What is an EMR?

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD SYSTEMS

WelcomeIn six 10-minute sessions, you will learn about electronic medical record systems (EMRs):•What they are• How they work• How you can use them to perform tasks such as registering a patient and recording vital signs•Who can access information• How one system connects to another• System and user security• Other important information

Session 1

Can you recall a visit to a physician’s office or a hospital? How was information collected about you or your situation? Did you fill out forms?Did the doctor/nurse/medical assistant write down information about you? On paper? On a computer?

What is an EMR?An electronic medical record is the same as a paper record, except that it’s in a computer and takes up a lot less space.

Healthcare providers have begun using EMRs for many reasons, especially to improve patient care.

Let’s compare them

Paper vs. Electronic records

Paper record• Easy to fill out• Patient can complete•Must be able to read patient’s handwriting• Can be misfiled or lost• Requires a lot of storage space•May not be available if patient sees a different doctor

Electronic record• Healthcare provider fills in information• No need to interpret handwriting• Easily available for multiple doctors or other

providers – even in different buildings

Can you think of other advantages of EMRs?

More advantages of EMRs

•Easy to track a patient’s record of care, even for multiple providers•Less chance of missing records•Standardized presentation of patient problems and results•Easy to standardize information for billing codes

Let’s look at an EMR

Let’s explore an EMR. We’ll check out the Demo site for OpenEMR, a non-profit site that is open to anyone to use.

Click on this link:

http://demo.open-emr.org:2099/openemr/interface/login/login_frame.php?site=default

(If you’re looking at slides, right-click on the link and choose “open hyperlink,” or else copy the link.)

You should see a screen that looks like this.

Log in to the EMR.

Enter this information

Username: adminPassword: pass

Is this what you see? If so, then you’ve logged in correctly.

Now see if you can find items on the screen

Where do you go to log out?

a. Upper left

b. Upper right

c. Lower left

d. Lower right

The correct answer is

b. Upper right

Click on patients at the left of the screen to see a list of patients

What is the birthdate for Beetu Shah?

a. 6/12/1979

b. 10/15/1979

c. 10/01/2012

d. 10/25/2013

The correct answer is

Beetu Shah’s birthdate is

October 25, 2013.

• Note that Open EMR shows the date with the year first:

2013-10-25

d. 2013-10-25

Which patient has a message?

• Hint: Look at the bottom of the screen at the Message and Reminder Center.

The correct answer is

Luis San(who is listed last name first)

Take some time to explore on your own

• For more about Open-EMR, check out the website at:• http://www.open-emr.org/

Can you find where to look at Financials?

Where would you look for visit forms?

That’s it for today

Log out of OpenEMR to end your session.