How EMR Proves to be environment-friendly for Doctors

While the innovative Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are intended to increase the accuracy and improve the quality of medical records, they are also are found to have the potential of improving the environmental footprint left by medical industry. EMR Software is not only beneficial to patients and providers, but also to the planet.

Significance of Being an Eco-friendly Doctor

Not just doctors, other medical professionals can also contribute to make the health care industry more eco-friendly, by following certain strategies as discussed below:

• Using sustainable materials
• By conscious technology use
• Reducing material waste and office waste

Why is EMR Software Considered Environment – Friendly?

Electronic Medical Record replace paper-based medical records that consume large storage space. Paper-based records, over a period of time, tend to deteriorate and are less environmentally friendly. In comparison, electronic records allow themselves to be stored in the cloud and require fewer resources.

Health care contributes roughly 7% of carbon dioxide emissions and 8% of all greenhouse gases in the United States. By switching to EMR Software System, the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere can be considerably reduced.

Several things such as inquiries and discussions about test results may be done using the computer, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.70 million tons per annum. This equals to the emission from a staggering 300,000 cars on the roads.

Cutting back on a huge quantity of paper that is used for paper-based medical charts and reports each year is possible by making a shift to EMR. X-rays can now be printed and viewed; digital X-rays replace the earlier film-based ones, adding to conserving more natural resources. This also leads to avoiding use of polluting and toxic chemicals such as silver nitrate and hydroquinone.

Key Factors That Make EMRs Environment-Friendly

• Paper consumption is Reduced:

o   Adopting EMRs reduces the need for paper in the office setting greatly.  Instead of destroying trees for making paper, digital documents can be used and erased without a single tree being cut

• Transportation is Avoided
• By reducing the gasoline consumption for numerable office visits and using the EMR’s services for communication, patients will contribute to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
• Considerable amount of water can be saved by replacing paper-based charts with digital records

With consciousness increasingly growing around environmental care, it is the responsibility of medical professionals to adopt eco-friendly care setting. EMR Software is one way of contributing to this.