Medical Record Keeping in the Summer Camp Setting

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health Informatics
• Healthcare Management
• Summer Camp Health Services

Background:

• A significant portion of school-aged children attend residential summer camps annually.
• An increasing number of campers have chronic medical conditions requiring specialized care.
• Camp health records are crucial for continuity of care but are under-researched.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey residential summer camps regarding their camper health record creation, storage, and utilization.
• To identify challenges faced by health providers in this unique pediatric care setting.
• To inform the informatics community about camp healthcare documentation issues.

Main Methods:

• A web-based electronic survey was developed to assess medical recordkeeping and healthcare practices.
• The survey was distributed to 953 American Camp Association-accredited residential summer camps.
• Responses were analyzed to identify trends and draw conclusions regarding current practices.

Main Results:

• A 31% response rate (298 camps) was achieved.
• Nearly half of responding camps lacked a computer in the health center, and 14.8% had no computer access for health staff.
• 41.1% reported no internet access, with common recordkeeping complaints including time burden, completion, and consistency.

Conclusions:

• Summer camps face significant challenges in documenting camper healthcare due to resource limitations and system inefficiencies.
• Current recordkeeping methods hinder staff productivity, satisfaction, and the overall quality of care.
• There is a clear need for standardized, user-friendly software tailored to the specific requirements of summer camp healthcare documentation.