[The medical records of home health care patients: a complement or alternative to an electronic file?]

Sante Publique. 2005 Jun;17(2):227-32. doi: 10.3917/spub.052.0227.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Home health care services for dependant people involve participation and interventions of professionals from the health care, medico-social and social sectors. In order to ensure quality care, the flow of information must appropriately circulate between all of the various care providers. The establishment of an electronic medical file for these patients is a possible solution which has been proposed to be conducted in next years. A paper medical record is the property of the patient and offers the possibility of an alternative and complementary solution. The electronic file would use the existing available file as a starting point, and without any additional organisational structures being implicated, it allows for better coordination of the health, medical and social activities. An experimental implementation of this in the Franch-Comte region of France demonstrated the advantages and benefits of such a tool based on a logic centered upon the individual and the open sharing of practices between professionals in the medical and social sectors.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Continuity of Patient Care
  • Documentation
  • France
  • Home Care Services / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Interprofessional Relations
  • Medical Records Systems, Computerized*
  • Patient Care Planning*
  • Social Support