Health Services' transition to a paperless office program for organizing students' medical records corresponds to a growing national demand for computerized record keeping to replace the inefficient and occasionally dangerously decentralized medical record system in the United States. While pushes for computer records often raise the specter of privacy invasion and government control, most systems - including the new Medicat system - are equipped with multiple layers of password protection. Instead, the real challenge in the transition to such a system is compatibility - currently, few hospitals and doctors' offices can communicate with each other without the intervention of people and paper at various junctures. This slows care and can lead to dangerous, unnecessary mistakes.
Systems that have transitioned to computerized record keeping can provide more efficient and more thorough care. The Veteran's Administration hospital record system is standardized across the country, allowing patients mobility without having to worry that prescriptions and care records won't follow them when they move. Larger private hospital systems are also improving their recordkeeping, but even in cases when systems are willing to share, the software does not communicate.
We applaud Health Services' use of a program that will store student data indefinitely and that is common to many colleges. But while there may be isolated incidents in which another U.S. university needs to treat a Brown student, the real need for compatibility is with Rhode Island hospitals. Health Services cannot treat everything - broken bones, serious illnesses and a host of other problems require local hospitalization. In these cases, Brown-affiliated hospitals should be able to access student records with student permission in order to provide vital care in a timely fashion.
We encourage other University offices to follow suit - Health Services' perseverance through their growing pains has paid off. Yes, it has been difficult to train existing staff to use computers and the new system. They have to ask for help and technical support, which can frustrate both patients and providers. But all too often, we cling to inefficient systems simply because they're ours and they're familiar.
It's time to push on, and the movement to integrate student record keeping across the University will, we hope, eliminate the cumbersome layers of forms that students and professors alike struggle with in a host of departments and offices. Goodbye, little pink registration receipts - and good riddance.
