The electronic medical record in clinical care

A patient's medical record contains a large amount of data, which currently is stored in a paper hard copy. This limits its usability and availability in a particular instance of care. Much of the effort in computerizing the medical record has been driven by financial and quality assurance concerns and constraints placed on the data have often derived from the technical limitations of available systems. The requirements for records to be used in clinical care may differ from the priorities currently followed in the medical record.