A model approach to sharing electronic medical records between and within the state hospitals in Turkey

It has always been a research interest to solve hospital management problem s with systematic approach by using modem management tools. Almost all the Hospital Information System (HIS) software packages in Turkey keep track of local transactions in administrative activities and material flow. In stat e hospitals in Turkey, very little medical information is processed and mos t of the records are still kept manually and archived on papers. In this paper, a cost-effective, flexible and easy-to-use Hospital Informat ion System model is proposed in order to give better diagnostic and treatme nt services. It is also demonstrated that this model makes it possible to e xchange information between and within the hospitals over Transmission Cont rol Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network. User needs are taken into consideration during model development and the benefits of model implementa tion to the hospital administration are stated. According to the model prop osed in this paper, only a single health care record number (HCRN) is requi red for a patient to access all her/his medical records stored in different locations, from any state hospital in Turkey. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.