Patient summaries: an International Perspective

Patient Summaries, excerpts of Electronic Health Records used most frequently for emergency or continuity of care, have received a lot of visibility in the context of eHealth strategies and standardization efforts. Interoperable patient summaries that can be exchanged safely and accurately across borders of organizations, health systems, regions, and countries, are perceived as the key for patient safety, as well as efficient and effective care. In the European Union (EU), the eHealth Network established under Article 14 of the directive on patient rights to cross-border care 2011/24/EU [1], adopted in 2013 the guidelines on minimum non-exhaustive patient summary dataset [2] triggering attention to patient summary specifications throughout Europe. These patient summaries should include inter-professional dimensions to attend to complexities of care across the patient’s longer-term trajectories. Ιn the United States, the Blue Button initiative aims to empower citizens giving them the opportunity to download their patient summary after a medical visit. Japan and Brazil proceed with standardization projects for discharge summaries, offering the opportunity to compare and contrast different approaches. This workshop brings together speakers from Europe, the United States, Asia, and Latin America to discuss key aspects, types and uses of patient summaries, how they are produced and maintained overtime, and point out challenges of standardization, consolidation and harmonization in an increasingly mobile global world. The attendees will learn about initiatives surrounding patient summaries to gain awareness of key issues and associated problems around the globe. Such opportunities to engage in active discussion on how local standards relate to global interoperability of patient summaries can pave the way towards international standards.