Abstract
Objective: Describe the design and implementation of an electronic medical record—E-INTMED—customized for Internal Medicine in Dakar, Senegal. Methodology: This study was carried out in a public teaching hospital in Dakar Senegal. It entailed collaboration between physicians specialized in various fields in Internal Medicine and Computer Scientists to carry out the compilation of data and their electronic transcription to produce a prototype which met users’ needs. Results: E-INTMED software is structured around several hierarchical tables allowing users to register and store all relevant patients’ information. E-INTMED structures patient’s data to provide a clear overview of their medical history and users’ activity performance. E-INTMED makes medical users’ life so much easier. Users can generate and send letters and prescriptions quickly and efficiently using the customized templates which they can modify or create new ones. In addition to these capabilities, all of the features expected in an Internal Medicine EHR are handled by E-INTMED, such as lab orders and results, mechanisms for continuity of care, embedding and access to images and documents, and so much more. E-INTMED provides medical students with a number of educational, practical and administrative advantages. Conclusion: Computerization of medical records has become a necessity today. Crossing the line to Electronic medical records could help to improve medical practice and medical training.
Highlights
The first known record is Egyptian, but it is not a proper patient record, rather a written document on papyrus describing surgical treatment of war wounds [1]
E-INTMED consists of tables that are in relationship via foreign keys to the core table
E-INTMED via FileMaker Pro provides tools for generating step-by-step reports, including attractive graphs to efficiently analyze and summarize data which can be sent by email, to Excel or printed out to PDF format to share with colleagues
Summary
The first known record is Egyptian, but it is not a proper patient record, rather a written document on papyrus describing surgical treatment of war wounds [1]. Followed the Greeks with Hippocrates, the father of medicine, who wrote careful notes of his patients about symptoms, appearance of the patient, social situation and other parameters to decide on the treatment [2]. The Arabs introduced the concept of hospital. They were the first to keep written records of patients and their medical treatment, which were later edited by doctors and referenced in future treatment [3]. The first formal medical record system was developed in Sweden in 1752 and continuously refined until 1980 [2]. The whole has become a communication and data transmission tool between healthcare professionals
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
