Shared digital medical records should be the basis of modern medicine

Dear Editor,

I read the above editorial with interest, and resonate with Dr Pablo Martin’s response.(1) Shared digital medical records should be the basis of modern medicine. A centralized, comprehensive and accesible public health record of a patient’s medical history can positively promote the continuity of care of a patient, especially where critical care and ongoing monitoring of a patient by different specialists are required (eg, the monitoring of a monochorionic diamniotic preganancy for twin to twin transfusion syndrome by one or more GPs, Obstetricians, Gynaecologists and Radiologists). Of course, there are privacy concerns that must be addressed, including how unauthorised access, non-clinical use and unwanted data sharing is managed and prevented.(2)

Jing Zhi Wong, JD
Perth, Australia
Graduate-at-Law

(1) Shared digital records should be the basis of modern medicine, 29 January 2023, https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.o3068/rr.
(2) Eg, see discussion on Australia ‘My Health Record’: Pang PCI, McKay D, Chang S, et al. Privacy concerns of the Australian My Health Record: Implications for other large-scale opt-out personal health records. Information Processing & Management 2020;57(6):102364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102364