There is increasing focus on the clinical practices of short-term medical brigades, including their often illegible, disposable medical records written on queue cards. Better medical records usually mean higher standards of care for patients. But bringing the expense and complexity of an electronic medical record (EMR) into a remote setting is challenging.

Our findings

We found 13 electronic medical record systems that specifically target medical missions, including five mobile apps designed for smartphones or tablets. Most existing systems are small, or intended only for internal use within their own non-government organizations. Of the systems, Open MRS has the greatest scope of use – and smaller electronic medical records should consider interoperability with this large, open source system.

Although still in their early stages, these systems have potential to help medical volunteers penetrate language barriers, and to aid in information retrieval and decision making.

Read the whole article here, just published in the Journal of Medical Informatics.