The Personal Health Record (PHR)

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Personal Health Record. The Personal Health Record (PHR) is a tool that the patient can use to collect, track and share past and current information about our health or the health of someone in our care. In another way, it can be defined as an electronic application through which individuals can access, manage and share their health information, and that of others for whom they are authorized, in a private, secure, and confidential environment (Nelson & Staggers, 2017). Within a patient-centered care paradigm, it is vital to give patients the opportunity to play an active role. With PHRs, patients’ opportunities to manage and to share their health information in cross-sectoral care are nevertheless restricted (Nelson & Staggers, 2017). …show more content…

This may include controversial aspects such as allowing patients to decide which physician or other health care providers can access to their personal health information in the course of treatment. To date, patients have limited possibilities to control cross sectoral information exchange (Baudendistel, Winkler, Kamradt, Brophy, Längst, Eckrich, & Ose, 2015). For consumers, PHRs have a wide variety of potential benefits. One of the most important PHR benefits is greater patient access to a wide array of credible health information, data, and knowledge. In PHR, the patients determine who can access, view, modify, or transmit information from their PHRs; and the ability of the PHR to audit users gives the patients a sense of control over their privacy and confidentiality. Improved communication will make it easier for patients and caregivers to ask questions, to set up appointments, to request refills and referrals, and to report problems (Nelson & Staggers, 2017). PHRs can be kept on paper or electronically. Electronic records can be kept via a software application on a personal computer or through an Internet-based service. PHR-mediated electronic communication between patients and

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