Information standards

The transition from a paper-based system to a digital one can be challenging, but the benefits of integrated electronic health system that works for clinicians and patients were articulated by the nurses who responded to the RCN-led survey on the digital future of nursing.

The RCN was one of the founding members of the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB). The role of the PRSB is to ensure that the structure and content of all electronic health records in health and social care follow widely agreed, high quality information standards so there is a single, comprehensive, useable electronic health record (EHR) in whatever setting the person is looked after in.

Patient-centred care is at the heart of nursing: we know that patients want information about their health to be available wherever they access the health service. That is why it’s so important that nurses are involved, right from the start, in the development of electronic health records that are fit for purpose, and crucially, transferable across health and social care organisations.

The RCN works closely with the PRSB on the information standards agenda and provides nursing expertise on aspects of care records such as end of life care.