A medical record does two things:

(1) Your medical record provides a chronicle of past medical care. The medical record is, in a sense, an official and legal document memorializing past care. It's the collective "memory" of times gone by;

(2) The medical record also acts as a communication tool between healthcare professionals, in both "real time" and over a period of time. The record permits treating physicians to see the whole picture. It prevents them from operating in the dark.

As our healthcare needs become more complex, we find ourselves being treated by an ever-increasing team, a growing spectrum of physicians and other healthcare professionals. Gone are the days when a single general practitioner provided all care. We have become a nation of specialists. If the medical record does not effectively permit healthcare professionals to communicate with one another about your healthcare, errors can occur. Without this record, each practitioner resembles a blind man examining the elephant. Each sees only his or her "slice" of the pie and the bigger picture may be missed.

Medical records problems can arise for a number of reasons. Some physicians have bad handwriting, which can lead to misinterpretation or, at times, even complete illegibility. On occasion, the medical record fails to capture an event. "If it isn't in the medical record, then it didn't happen." Another problem arises when multiple physicians are all diagnosing or treating one person. Since care may take place in many locations and over a period of time, the individual pieces of paper documenting that care may not all "come together" in one medical record. Even if they do, that particular medical record is generally a paper record, residing in a doctor's office and usually it's "available", perhaps, less than 25 percent of the time. Individual pieces of the medical record may even be completely unavailable or missing. This can lead to unnecessary additional procedures, hospital admission or even injury.

Whether you are at home or traveling, for a routine visit or an emergency, a physician can do a better evaluation of your condition if he or she knows your past medical history and your current medications, allergies and medical problems. In an emergency, you might be unconscious or under great stress. Providing a complete medical history might be quite difficult or impossible. You can help your doctor and help yourself by creating an online health record such as the one offered by PersonalMD.com where it will be available immediately, at all times and anywhere on the face of the earth. This lifeline online will permit you to "e-prepared", should an emergency arise.

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