Electronic medical record in cardiology: A 10-year Italian experience

Abstract

Objectives: the aim of this study was to report a ten years experience in the electronic medical record (EMR) use. An estimated 80% of healthcare transactions are still paper-based. Methods: an EMR system was built at the end of 1998 in an Italian tertiary care center to achieve total integration among different human and instrumental sources, eliminating paper-based medical records. Physicians and nurses who used EMR system reported their opinions. In particular the hospital activity supported electronically, regarding 4,911 adult patients hospitalized in the 2004-2008 period, was examined. Results: the final EMR product integrated multimedia document (text, images, signals). EMR presented for the most part advantages and was well adopted by the personnel. Appropriateness evaluation was also possible for some procedures. Some disadvantages were encountered, such as start-up costs, long time required to learn how to use the tool, little to no standardization between systems and the EMR technology. Conclusion: the EMR is a strategic goal for clinical system integration to allow a better health care quality. The advantages of the EMR overcome the disadvantages, yielding a positive return on investment to health care organization.