A Patient-Driven Model of Electronic Medical Record for Homeless Patients in Puerto Rico

Published in: Innovation in Engineering, Technology and Education for Competitiveness and Prosperity: Proceedings of the 11th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology
Date of Conference: August 14-16, 2013
Location of Conference: Cancun, Mexico
Authors: Edgar Ferrer
Rafael Nieves
Technical Paper: #26

Abstract:

In English:
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are promising to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare services. Several models for adopting EMRs in healthcare centers have been developed, these are complex models that follow a clinician driven workflow. However, to provide healthcare to homeless patients requires that some unique conditions be met. This ongoing work present a novel model for adopting EMR to meet the particular medical record needs of homeless-patients. The model is intended to be applied by non-profit organizations that reach out homeless, however delivering proper healthcare in a systematic and professional way could become cumbersome considering the difficult environment in which medical street outreach has to be done. The proposed model follows a patient-driven workflow in order to use light EMRs with homeless-patients. Grounded Theory techniques are used to analyze data from interviews with physicians that provide healthcare to homeless patients in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The model will lead to the implementation of a light EMR system which can be used to collect medical data on the streets. The EMR system follows a patient-driven workflow that can run on mobile devices and tablet computers and can be easily integrated to a more complex EMR system.