Hi Roger, > I don't understand the latter. A patient can access Health Vault with > his/her browser from anywhere? So it doesn't matter where 'in the cloud' > the system is deployed?
Whilst web-based Health Vault style patient records will bring many advantages, in terms of human accessibility, unless this is underpinned by strong semantic precision we will gain none of the advantages of computerisation around decision support and particularly workflow support. Additionally, whilst I strongly support the concept of a patient authored/controlled record, IMO there must also be a place for a clinical record, which may need a different structure and focus. The clinical record must support a huge amount of detail, technical and operational information, much of which is of little practical interest to the majority of patients but will need to be managed and 'gardened' over time of it is to be of value. Clinical records are not just statements of fact, they are working documents which require active and careful management if they are to continually reflect the current state of knowledge/opinion about a patient's health. Ian Dr Ian McNicoll office / fax +44(0)141 560 4657 mobile +44 (0)775 209 7859 skype ianmcnicoll ian at mcmi.co.uk Clinical Analyst - Ocean Informatics ian.mcnicoll at oceaninformatics.com Consultant - IRIS GP Accounts ian at gpacc.co.uk Member of BCS Primary Health Care Specialist Group ? www.phcsg.org
