Medical Records Department or the MRD is an essential part of a hospital or a healthcare setup which primarily stores records of the patients who have been either treated in the OPD (Out Patient Department), IPD (Inpatient Patient Department) or Emergency Unit of the hospital.
Why is a medical records department (MRD) required ?
A medical records department is essentially required by the patients to retrieve any previous medical records incase of damage or loss, or for further treatment/opinion and by the medical practitioners to study various diseases and recovery from them.
What are the main functions of a medical records department ?
A medical records department is the whole soul of any information of the patient who is discharged from the hospital after treatment. A medical records department mainly functions to store the medical records or treatment files of patients who are either treated in the inpatient department or in the emergency unit.
The outpatient department records can be stored in the medical records department or can be stored separately.
The medical records department also send data to the government about the number of births and deaths in the hospital for their registrations in the census.
The medical records also serve useful in legal proceedings as proof of treatment.
What are the timings of a medical records department ?
The functional timings of a medical records department can vary from one hospital to another. Most of the medical record departments are functional between 9AM to 6 PM.
Who is in charge of the medical records department ?
The medical records department is usually taken care by the medical services team of the hospital. The medical records department in particular is operated by a Medical records officer, a medical records technician and an assistant. The staffing of the medical records department is dependent on the bed strength of the hospital. For example a 500 bedded hospital requires atleast one Medical records officer, one medical records technician and one assistant. All the staff of the medical records department should be well versed with computers for filing and retrieving of records.
How a medical records department functions ?
A medical record department has shelves or cabinets for storing of the medical records data. The same data is also stored as a soft copy on the hospital software program. Once a patient is discharged from the hospital, the patients file is sent to the medical records department. The file is then indexed either alphabetically or numerically (on the basis of patient’s admission code or department) and coding is done according to International classification of disease to identify the diagnosed disease as a particular code for future reference and statistical analysis.
How safe are the medical records in a medical records department ?
A medical records department in a hospital is designed in such a way that is at a least risk of any potential damage. Smoking is strictly prohibited in medical records department and smoke/fire detectors and water sprinklers are installed and regularly monitored. Regular pest control is carried out to avoid any damage to the records and access is restricted to prevent any kind of theft or loss of any medical record from the medical records department.
How can one retrieve an old medical record from the medical records department (MRD) ?
Retrieval of old medical record from the medical records department requires a written request stating the need for the same. The request has to be addressed to the head of the medical services or medical superintendent of the hospital or the healthcare setup. Once the permission for the same is granted one can approach the medical records department for the retrieval of the file.
How long are the medical records stored in the medical records department (MRD) ?
The medical records are stored for as long as required. The policy of destroying of medical records depends on the standard medical record keeping as per the state or the country norms and the hospital itself.
Disclaimer: The content provided here is meant for general informational purposes only and hence SHOULD NOT be relied upon as a substitute for sound professional medical advice, care or evaluation by a qualified doctor/physician or other relevantly qualified healthcare provider.