The effect of electronic health records on increasing productivity

Introduction: Progress and development of information technology (IT) has formed a great
potential for improvement of quality and performance of health care services. With the
development of electronic facilities in Iran, there is a compelling need for electronic health
records (EHR). Advantages of EHR are better adherence of patients and health care workers
to preventive and treatment protocols, immediate access to laboratory and radiology results,
reduction in traffic, and improvement in service quality and decision making of the health
system stakeholders.
Materials and methods: The current study provides a review of the current literature and
attempts to identify the existing potential for EHR and its role in formation of an integrated
health information system of individuals, as well as its advantages.
Results: Implementation and commissioning of EHR requires high costs and a powerful
support. It also requires coordination and collaboration of all dependent and related section
managers.
Discussion and conclusion: Due to the changes in physician-patient relationships, patients do
not regard their physician as the only source of health information. Since patients frequently
need to use the services of multiple health service providers, the medical teams need to
exchange their information, and the insurance companies and health care managers need to
access comprehensive and up-to-date data regarding the population, it is necessary to move
toward EHR.