title: Electronic health records and information portability: a pilot study in a rural primary healthcare center in India.
abstract: Clinical documentation and health information portability pose unique challenges in urban and rural areas of India. This article presents findings of a pilot study conducted in a primary health center in rural India. In this article, we focus on primary care in rural India and how a portable health record system could facilitate the availability of medical information at the point of care. We followed a geriatric cohort and a maternal cohort of 308 participants over a nine-month period. Physician encounters were entered into a web-based electronic health record. This information was made available to all study participants through a short messaging service (SMS). Additionally, 135 randomly selected participants from the cohort were issued a USB-based memory card that contained their detailed health records and could be viewed on most computers. The dual portability model implemented in the pilot study demonstrates the utility of the concept.
authors.affiliation: Kedar Radhakrishna, MBBS, MPhil, is a senior resident at St. John's Research Institute in Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Kedar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Radhakrishna
authors.affiliation: B. Ramakrishna Goud, MBBS, MD, is an additional professor at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: B Ramakrishna
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Goud
authors.affiliation: Arvind Kasthuri, MBBS, MD, is a professor at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasthuri
authors.affiliation: Abijeet Waghmare, MBBS, is a research associate at St. John's Research Institute in Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Abijeet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waghmare
authors.affiliation: Tony Raj, MBBS, MD, is head of the Medical Informatics Division of St. John's Research Institute in Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Raj
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D033283:Patient Access to Records; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: SMS; electronic health record (EHR); health information portability; health information technology; portable health record; primary care