Abstract

From antiquity to the present the ability of clinicians to assure confidentiality has been a cornerstone of practice. Though the expectations and emphases of the various ethical codes and laws concerning confidentiality have evolved over time, it has always been the practitioner’s responsibility to observe them. The use of computers for the generation and storing of individual medical records is a significant change from our current paper-based records. That change makes the security of records a technological problem generally outside the realm of physician knowledge or control. Researchers and vendors first began developing electronic health records (EHRs) in the late 1960s to 1980s. “Peripherals” were ..