Privacy of electronic health records: a review of the literature

Abstract

Privacy in the context of electronic health records (EHR) is an incredibly complex and multi-faceted topic within the LIS field. We selected twenty-five articles published over the past fifteen years, which explore this topic from the perspectives of patients, doctors, medical librarians, informatics experts, and archivists. We identified themes that appeared consistently across the literature, as well as issues that differed across healthcare systems with varying levels of IT infrastructure. Significant changes have also taken place over time, especially with the development of technologies meant to protect privacy and make the widespread use of EHR possible. However, despite technological advances, many of the same problems of privacy ethics remain. Diverging opinions exist in the literature regarding how, and if, EHR systems should be established in light of these unresolved issues.