The American College of Physicians' Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee published a position paper about ethical EHR use in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
The paper, titled "Ethical Implications of the Electronic Health Record: In the Service of the Patient," encourages medical professionals to consider how EHRs can best serve patient care. In particular, ACP raises concerns that EHR development has focused on administrative functions, rather than capturing accurate patient information and physician feedback.
The paper lists three principles to keep in mind for ethical EHR use.
1. EHRs should facilitate patient care and support the patient-physician relationship.
2. EHRs should assist clinical reasoning about each patient encounter. Clinicians should not rely on features like copy-and-paste, which can hinder an accurate medical record.
3. EHR information retrieval, exchange and access can improve care; however, clinicians should be sure to maintain privacy and confidentiality to prevent unauthorized disclosure of patient information.
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