In Action
Personal Portable Electronic Medical Record Project
One month following Katrina, staff returned to the New Orleans area to locate cancer patients previously receiving services at the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO). The goal was to find patients wherever they were, refer them back into treatment, provide transportation funds, link post-Katrina treatment physicians to pre-Katrina providers, get prescriptions, and to try to address other challenges low income, under and uninsured cancer patients were facing from their displacement. There were also physicians across the country now seeing cancer patients from MCLNO and looking for medical records. As few records were available, the best that could be done at that time was to link the post and pre-Katrina physicians.
The existing electronic system does not contain any information on diagnosis, chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Cancer treatment is strictly regimented because of the danger to the patient if doses are not administered at the correct strength. Furthermore, research and clinical studies have conclusively shown survival to be related to chemotherapy and radiation dose intensity. Reductions in doses, delays or breaks in treatment, or discontinuation of treatment before completion are directly related to decreased clinical response, increased recurrence of cancer, and decreased survival. In other words, patients need to receive neither too much nor too little drug. Most Katrina evacuee cancer patients had breaks in their treatments. Without records, many were not able to continue with their treatments. This also included patients who were receiving radiation for palliative care to reduce pain. This is not acceptable.
In preparation for future hurricane seasons, LCCP partners met to consider solutions for providing cancer patients with their individual medical records to take with them in the event that they evacuate. LCCP concluded that providing a cancer patient with his/her medical records on a flash drive, which is easily transported, is the best solution in the absence of a complete electronic medical record.
