title: Towards personal health record: current situation, obstacles and trends in implementation of electronic healthcare record in Europe.
abstract: In this article, we define the electronic healthcare record and present its purpose as a tool for continuity of care. We briefly describe the current situation of usage and focus on the major challenges to wide implementation in Europe and beyond. Finally, we point out trends that show stronger involvement of the patients-citizens in the health care prevention and promotion processes, and discuss the impact on the future development of the electronic healthcare record into personal health records.
authors.affiliation: European Commission, Telematics Applications for Health, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Iakovidis
mesh_terms: D003199:Computer Systems; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005060:Europe; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D017216:Telemedicine; D009626:Terminology as Topic