Soapbox Shenanigans and PHR
This Saturday, the Red Bull Soapbox Race is rolling into Philadelphia. Daring individuals will get to live out their engineering dreams and ride homemade vehicles down an excessively vertical hill. Basically, Homecoming floats will be careening down the street and, oh so conveniently, I will have the perfect vantage point from my friend’s front porch.
The contest rules require that the vehicles have brakes, but this is a big hill and, mind you, the race is scheduled for the exact time that the weatherman has predicted a deluge from Hurricane Hanna. So we have homemade contraptions manned by inexperienced racers amid high winds and heavy rain. Oh, and I’m sure the beer will be a-flowin’, too.
In other words, someone’s going to get hurt. This ludicrous, though highly entertaining, race would be the perfect time to call upon personal health records (PHR) accessed through health information exchange (HIE)—if only such systems were in place.
As I ruminated over Saturday’s inevitable crashes, my mind flashed back to my last doctor’s appointment; actually, my first appointment with a new doctor. She carried a laptop into the exam room and, with a few clicks, my patient history was in the system. I had never seen an EHR in person, and having just scored my position at ADVANCE, I was dazzled by the technology.
Now if only the medical staff (at least, I hope there’s a medical staff) at the soapbox derby had a similar laptop that could access anyone’s health record in seconds. A soapbox car flipped, and the driver’s from out-of-state? No problem. Click. Click. Looks like he’s allergic to latex; plan accordingly.
If PHRs ultimately arise from EHRs, however, necessary precautions must be taken to not only ensure security but also patient accountability. Do we really trust the guy driving a tipped-over porta-potty (I kid you not) to assume the countless responsibilities of health care documentation? Heck, 3 weeks at the office and I’m still scratching the tip of the HIM iceberg. For PHR implementation, consumer education will be key.