title: Ethics and the electronic health record in dental school clinics.
abstract: Electronic health records (EHRs) are a major development in the practice of dentistry, and dental schools and dental curricula have benefitted from this technology. Patient data entry, storage, retrieval, transmission, and archiving have been streamlined, and the potential for teledentistry and improvement in epidemiological research is beginning to be realized. However, maintaining patient health information in an electronic form has also changed the environment in dental education, setting up potential ethical dilemmas for students and faculty members. The purpose of this article is to explore some of the ethical issues related to EHRs, the advantages and concerns related to the use of computers in the dental operatory, the impact of the EHR on the doctor-patient relationship, the introduction of web-based EHRs, the link between technology and ethics, and potential solutions for the management of ethical concerns related to EHRs in dental schools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials, Univer­sity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Dentistry, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Robert.A.Cederberg@uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cederberg
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Valenza
mesh_terms: D016494:Computer Security / Q000941:ethics; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000941:ethics; D008192:Deception; D003729:Dental Care / Q000941:ethics; D003740:Dental Clinics / Q000941:ethics*; D048048:Dental Informatics / Q000941:ethics; D003792:Dental Records; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000941:ethics; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000941:ethics*; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000941:ethics; D007256:Information Systems / Q000941:ethics; D020407:Internet / Q000941:ethics; D028743:Professional Misconduct / Q000941:ethics; D012575:Schools, Dental / Q000941:ethics*; D013335:Students, Dental; D035502:Trust