The use of patient biometrics in accessing electronic health records
by John Fulcher
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM), Vol. 6, No. 1, 2004

Abstract: Access, ownership and privacy of medical records are fundamental to the success of any real-world telemedicine application. Such considerations are discussed within the context of smart devices – such as smartcards and iKeys – which are admirably suited not only to providing access to remotely stored Electronic Health Records, but also in emergency situations (Fulcher, 2003). Smart devices offer a limited amount of on-board storage, encrypted and/or compressed as required. Emergency information in the case of cardiac or diabetes patients can be read on any suitably configured computer (i.e. smartcard reader or simply USB port). In non-emergency situations, such as consultations in doctors' surgeries, the smart device can serve as a secure access mechanism for patient data stored remotely on a centralised server, thereby providing a much more comprehensive picture than that given by the limited record stored on the smart device itself. Unique Patient Identifiers need to be defined before such a scheme would receive widespread adoption. The broader community would also need assurance as to compliance with privacy and other similar legislation. It is further suggested that rather than use (random) digit identifiers, patient biometrics would provide a much better access mechanism – in other words comparing freshly captured biometric identifiers with those stored on the smart device. The overriding considerations then become accuracy, efficiency, non-intrusiveness and the amount of additional computer equipment needed to implement such a smart_ID system. Experiences gained from a field trial involving the use of USB iKeys for remote access of diabetes patient records are reported upon, and recommendations made for the future adoption of such systems.

Online publication date: Wed, 07-Jul-2004

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com