One of the fundamental ideas behind the nationwide electronic database of health records launched in 2009 was to protect the patient, minimizing the chance of repetitive tests done by different clinics or prescription of same medicines by a different doctor. However, three years after its implementation, the system does not function as intended.
Citing a case of a south Estonian woman who had to change hospitals for treatment, whereas the new hospital found no information about her condition and previous treatment on the electronic database, the paper put the woman's survival down only to the efforts of her family, who fetched the paper records from the first hospital.
Initially, physicians enter treatment records into their respective clinic's electronic databases which, however, may be noncompatible with one another and with the nationwide system. To other physicians, the records will become available only after the patient's summary is closed and forwarded to the central e-health databank.
And even though it is mandatory to keep treatment records electronically, overburdened doctors do not always comply with the requirement.
"All medical centers forward data to us but the quality of the data varies greatly. Also the practices of individual MDs differ a lot from each other," Maarja Karjaherm, communication manager of the E-Health Foundation told the daily.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Erkki Sivonen
Quelle/Source: ERR News, 24.04.2012
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