RACSEL: Technical Recommendations for Electronic Health Record Implementation

The American Cooperation Network for Electronic Health, RACSEL for its Spanish acronym, is a project supported by the Regional Public Goods initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), whose objective is to support member countries to:

• Establish a means of permanent knowledge and experience exchange that enables them to define common standards for the future generation of a Regional Electronic Health Record (EHR).
• Create a series of products that help our continent to develop electronic health (eHealth), emphasizing the deployment of electronic health records and the correction of gaps in the enabling elements.

Mission

• Promote collaborative work and South-South Triangular Collaboration (CSST) in the field of Electronic Health, so that good procedures and results obtained in one country can be leveraged in others, gaining efficiency and effectiveness, and thus improving the quality of health services and growth and social welfare.

Vision

Become one of the main collaboration networks in Electronic Health and a reference in the generation of standards, based on dialogue, coordination and exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Toolbox: books series of technical recommendations on the experiences of 5 countries in Latin America

The patient's medical history is one of the essential elements in the care process of the doctor-patient relationship, and it is a base tool for the decisions made by the health professional. It is used as a complement to the different sources of observation and diagnosis that the doctor explores about the health conditions of the patient. The interaction in the patient-doctor encounter is guided by a systemic process, which is adjusted in practice by the experience that the doctor acquires through knowledge from his own professional practice and which is combined by social conditions such as organization, academy, geographical area, among others. During the last decade, digital technology has permeated the clinical and healthcare scenarios and has allowed the medical record to rely on digital means, whereby the electronic health record is established as a fundamental tool for the support of patient care processes.

The benefits of EHR point towards an improvement in care with greater efficiency, safety and quality for the patient. Similarly, the digitalization of health information brings new challenges related to the need for integration of digital information in health contexts. Digital information is supported by technologies that must be adjusted to the needs of users so that they can represent a real value for different stakeholders.

Being aware of the advent of digital technologies on health, it is necessary to create a space for reflection and sharing current experiences with Electronic Health Records (EHR) in the region, which can generate the first recommendations for governments to support its development, as well as to discuss the principles of regional integration. The American Cooperation Network for Electronic Health (RACSEL) has managed to consolidate the experiences of 5 Latin American countries and generate reflective work around different fundamental elements for its evolution in our countries.

The main topics on which RACSEL has worked on, included in this toolbox, are the technical compilation of aspects related to:

• Regional challenges for electronic health implementation
• Institutional and regulatory framework for the EHR
• EHR information systems architecture
• Health interoperability standards
• Pharmaceutical terminologies

Similarly, online learning courses are available on a free to use web platform useful for different stakeholders.

Thanks to RACSEL’s effort  it was possible to specify the fundamentals so that countries and regions advancing in the development of EHR can rely on a reference for their own initiatives. Each country, according to its health model and its context, can now analyze, adjust, adapt and adopt – or not— the recommendations made. We hope that the value of the discussions that emerge here, from the standpoint of a network of governments, inspires advancement towards an electronic health which brings greater equity, solidarity and quality to our citizens. As they constitute a regional public good, these texts can be used for free. However, any content must be referenced correctly.

This toolkit is organized through a technical guide. Visit each module for the summary and download the guide.