Designing Model for Using Document Imaging to Keep Medical Records

In the past decade, hospitals in Iran have been heavily interested in electronic storage of paper based medical records using document imaging. But there is no specific guidance or instruction for hospitals in Iran regarding the use of this method. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design a model for the use of document imaging for paper based medical records keeping in hospitals.
Subjects and This is cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in two phases since 2012 to 2017. In the first phase, the use of document imaging method was investigated in eight hospitals in Khuzestan province. Data were collected using a checklist and on-site visits from hospitals. In the second stage, a model was proposed for using document imaging to keep medical records in hospital. This model presented as a questionnaire and was distributed to 25 experts. The validity of the proposed model was tested in two steps using the Delphi method. In each stage, descriptive statistics methods were used for data analysis. The results of the first phase showed that most hospitals used document imaging as archive for keeping inpatient medical records. All hospitals used document imaging software to index and scan records. In the second phase of the study in two Delphi rounds, overall 129 components for the final model of document imaging implementation were approved by the experts. The final model consists of four main parts, planning for document imaging implementation, the minimum capabilities of document imaging software, the minimum requirements for the process of document imaging, and the implementation of the document imaging in the medical records department. The model presented in this study can help hospitals, document imaging service providers, document and health information management specialists to use the document imaging method