The Content and Structure of Electronic Personal Health Records: A Systematic Review

The electronic Personal Health Record (ePHR) improves people’s awareness and care management and leads to health promotion. One of the most important factors that contributes to the development of ePHR is identifying and understanding its content and structure. No comprehensive studies have so far been performed on the content and structure of ePHRs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to systematically review the content and structure of ePHRs  in terms of system information resources, standards used, and their architecture.

This study was a systematic review. Studies published in English were searched using keywords and retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, Medline Ovid, ScienceDirect and IEEE databases from 2000 to 2019. Then, the articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and evaluated on the basis of system information resources, design modules, the standards used and the architecture applied.

Finally, 38 original research articles met the inclusion criteria. The results of the present study showed that most ePHRs used tethered or hybrid architecture that allowed users to access ePHRs through web-based servers. Most ePHRs have also used electronic health records or medical electronic records as information resources through a data link. Standards of terminology, content, exchange, security, privacy, and confidentiality of ePHR systems have also been reported in a number of studies. Moreover, the content of most ePHRs was varied due to the diversity of the target population of citizens and patients (including chronic patients).

The results of this study can be used by researchers and designers in designing ePHRs for various purposes.