Development of a personal electronic health record card in the United Kingdom

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Medical Technology

Background:

• Emergency medical care often relies on patient-provided history, which can be unavailable if patients cannot communicate.
• Integrated online patient record systems are not widely adopted in many countries, including the UK, creating a critical information gap.
• The MyCare Card (MyC(2)) project aims to bridge this gap with a patient-held electronic health record solution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, implement, and evaluate a prototype patient-held electronic health record card.
• To develop Graphical User Interface (GUI) software for accessing data stored on the MyCare Card.
• To establish software requirements through end-user feedback and surveys during development.

Main Methods:

• Development of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) software for the MyCare Card.
• Simultaneous software development with requirement gathering via questionnaire surveys and end-user evaluations.
• Selection and overview of suitable hardware and open-source software solutions for the MyCare Card implementation.

Main Results:

• The paper details the development process of the MyCare Card GUI software.
• It outlines the chosen hardware and open-source software components for the system.
• User feedback and evaluations were integrated throughout the GUI development lifecycle.

Conclusions:

• The MyCare Card project successfully developed a prototype patient-held electronic health record system.
• The GUI software facilitates secure access to patient data stored on the card.
• This approach offers a viable solution for improving patient information accessibility in emergency situations.