Unified Electronic Medical Record
Medical records are considered one of the main pillars upon which the mechanism for providing optimal healthcare in hospitals and between different types of medical facilities. Their importance lies in their role in safekeeping all of the patient main information, such as diagnoses, allergies, lab results, and medications.
Therefore, with the development of Information Technology in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Health Council (SHC) sought after the establishment of the National Health Information Centre to be linked organizationally with the health services and is connected to an electronic network of health information with the Ministry of Health, medical services in the military bodies, university hospitals and other relevant government agencies.
Objectives of the Unified Electronic Medical Record:
Eliminate double data entry regardless of the data storage location.
Unify the standards and procedures used in dealing with the medical file.
Design and implement an electronic system with high safety and reliability characteristics.
Consider high confidentiality in information transfer.
Reduce costs and improve the quality of the health services provided.
Therefore, the service was inaugurated with the participation of a number of sectors including the Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs to link all health care providers in the Kingdom through a unified system in order to facilitate the physicians' work, promote public health and contribute in costs reduction.
As a result, in coordination with the Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs, represented by the Information Systems and Informatics Division informatics, a unified medical record for each patient was created, as the national ID number, or the resident card number is the reference to access all electronic health files on a national level.
Last but not least, some of the key features adopting the unified electronic medical record, and the evolution of collecting, updating and safekeeping patient data, is the easy access for physicians to check the latest patient’s, his medical and health history that includes medications, previous visits, and diagnostics as well as any allergies that patient might have, through permanent and prompt data access with the possibility of retrieval at any moment by authorized personnel.
