ิby “attaching” the health record to the person, at least in the
form of the ever-present cellphone, it is almost always
available, wherever the person is. It is owned and used
by cellphone users, i.e. not only by healthcare providers,
but the latter can see it and contribute to it - by adopting
the PHR approach we endorse the concept that the
individual owns his or her health record and is responsible
for its maintenance. For compatibility with other
PHR systems, the PPHR adopts most of its terminology
from the International Classification for Primary Care
(ICPC-2e) [11], and the content can be transmitted via
SMS (GSM transmission protocol) and mapped to the
CCR (Continuity of Care Record, ASTM [12]).
We must emphasize again that any PHR, and especially
a portable PHR, is primarily a record by and for
individuals, and of most use for “self-monitoring”. It
may also provide medically useful information in the
sense of an extended “history” such as is collected during
an encounter with healthcare providers.
One very preliminary version of this work has been
presented [2], and another was an Honours thesis at
Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak [13].
2 Methods
2.1 PPHR Requirements
The requirements of availability, ownership and compatibility
have been discussed above. Similar requirements
derive from standards such as ISO 18308, which describes
an EHR Architecture [14]. It requires an EHR to
be portable, integrated with other data repositories, and
viewable in a “problem-oriented” manner, among others.
Of course “user-friendliness” is a major requirement.
Figure 2: Schematic representation of an individual health
record.
Note that data security and confidentiality have not
been explicitly addressed. In this we concur with Fraser
et al. [1] regarding developing nations – “it has been
suggested that the very limited access to health care
makes it critical to avoid barriers that might be created
by excessive adherence to principles of confidentiality.”
This is discussed further below.