Personal Health Record (PHR) in a Talisman: An Approach to Providing Continuity of Care in Developing Countries Using Existing Social Customs

The idea is to use the talisman as a portable electronic device that holds the personal health record (PHR) of the wearer of the talisman. We perceive this PHR-talisman as a removable memory device that can be updated with information from any computer that a clinic or a doctor uses to store the patient's case history and/or treatment information (Safran, 2006). Once updated with the person's health information, the talisman becomes the personal health record of the wearer and is available with the patient whenever and where ever he visits a doctor, clinic or a hospital. While the information contained in the talisman PHR may not initially be a complete electronic health record, it serves as the starting point for the continuum of the entire electronic health record of the individual. In terms of data storage capacity, current (as of May 2007) memory devices have a memory of up to 4 GB, which can carry textual information and some important images as well related to a person's entire life-time. An important feature of the talisman is that with appropriate security and privacy protocols in place, over a period of time the talisman has the potential to become the unique identifier that links all electronic health records of an individual spread across several hospitals and clinics around the entire globe.