The modern electronic medical record isn't limited to text information. Users can include an array of multimedia such as dictated notes, endoscopy video, scanned documents or digital photographs. However there are a few guidelines which make attached graphics more valuable when used in EMR software.
Pictures Provide Invaluable Information
The axiom that a picture is worth a thousand words is wrong. Pictures are worth well over a mere thousand words. In fact a number of research studies have demonstrated that people can't relate to a description of a picture in the way they relate to a picture. The description will always be an incomplete and unsatisfying substitute.
Whenever possible, medical providers should include images directly in the EMR software record. Most EMR allows images to be attached to an encounter record, patient chart or other information. Any doctor with access to the system can directly view an x-ray rather than just the interpretation of an x-ray. Doctors can examine EKGs or other medical tests for themselves. Handwritten documents can be scanned into the EMR software so there is no chance of transcription error.
Use High Quality Graphics
Modern computers are fast and storage space is cheap so there is no reason to avoid using the highest quality images possible. Images should be stored in their original resolution and color depth. Shrinking an image causes a great loss of detail which at best can make an EMR software image useless and at worst could cause misdiagnosis.
There are conflicting opinions on image compression technologies. Any image can be compressed to use less disk space with lossless techniques that preserve every detail of the original picture. However images can be compressed further with a minor often-imperceptible amount of data loss or corruption. These losses can amount to a handful of pixels on an image, and yet even a few pixels can change the interpretation of a medical scan. Generally, images such as x-rays are stored with lossless compression while less critical data such as document scans can use more aggressive compression techniques.
Add a Description to the Picture
One problem with using images in an EMR system is they can't be found by searching. A person could go through a stack of x-rays and locate, for example, all lumbar x-rays but a computer can't tell the difference between a lumbar x-ray and a picture of a cheeseburger.
Images should always have some text attached so the EMR software can use these words in searches. The text could be a simple list of likely search keywords or could be a detailed description of information in the image. Scanned documents should be run through OCR. The entire text doesn't need to be entered into the record, but important passages should be copied and pasted into the EMR system.
When images are stored and cataloged efficiently, they add substantial usability to EMR software.
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