The Advantages of Digitizing School Health Records
Digitalization of documents is becoming more popular. Every business we know is rapidly moving away from paper, as proven by online transactions, grocery stores, doctor’s offices, gas stations, and airlines. The digitization model is also being implemented in schools, as it is gradually replacing the use of paper documents in the school setting for all functions.
Schools in the U.S, from K-12 to higher secondary education collect many types of documents related to student health and medical information. It includes student immunization records, records of allergies, health conditions, regular medications, immunization records.
Such immense volumes of sensitive information are subject to the privacy and lifecycle regulatory authorities of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).
Digitizing school health records can help schools overcome the gap. Not only will it facilitate greater security compliance and privacy requirements than paper documents, but it also provides improved data gathering, control, and auditing access, as well as expedites approved release in an emergency.
Let us look at why schools need to digitize their school documents.
Why Is It Necessary To Digitize School Health Records?
Schools face significant challenges in keeping a record of their student’s data. Thousands of children come through the school system each year. Academic institutions must maintain massive amounts of data that grow year after year. This data includes everything from attendance sheets to exam report cards, academic transcripts, exchanges, and papers linked to student loans, sponsorships, and scholarships.
Paper records administration is resource-intensive and time-consuming, and it frequently relies heavily on the knowledge of a few employees. If a key employee leaves or retires from the service, the entire staff will be in a predicament because they may not know where the specific file is kept. The monthly cost of expensive storage space compounds to that same closed system.
Digital technology is fast becoming the norm in the business world. The digital transformation approach and adaptability are helping all of the world’s major sectors in generating growth and success. Education is one of the world’s major industries, and it is benefiting greatly from digitalization. The use of digital technology has assisted many academic institutions in improving student experiences, promoting data-driven decisions, increasing competitiveness, and optimizing resources.
The covid-19 epidemic is another reason that has necessitated digitalization and digitized teaching in schools. Schools are better equipped and prepared with digitized learning experiences such as online classes, online assessments, eBooks, video conferencing, and, in some situations, virtual reality.
Post-pandemic schools gather much of their data in digital files and are moving forward by decreasing the need for paper to keep records.
Benefits of Digitizing School Health Records
Quick Accessibility:
Document digitization allows an institution to access data in digital form from anywhere, breaking down the constraints of geography, time, and simultaneous access. Data accessibility promotes data flow inside the school, resulting in increased productivity.
Cost Cutting:
Document digitalization enables schools to reduce the use of physical records, which consume resources such as space, security personnel, employees, and a decay-free environment. Once the data is digitized, we can optimize these resources to save money.
Information Security:
Because the documents have been digitized, access to digital material is simple to specify. Digital access not only decreases the time required to provide access but also lets you specify the level of accessibility. This improves data security and safeguards against data leaks. It is simple to keep data safe with the right type of cyber security.
Higher Productivity:
Data may be accessed by different departments inside the organization at the same time; but, if the data is not digital, accessing it requires more time and effort.
Data Backup and Restore:
Digitized data is easy to store in different spots, improving data security. Data storage in various places provides additional protection against data corruption or loss. Physical papers are more likely to be harmed in natural calamities, but digitized data is safer and easier to copy. Natural disasters are frequently unpredictable, therefore storing them in several, secure locations increase the reliability of your records.
Ecofriendly:
There is no need to print digital data for distribution, and it is also simple to handle. To eliminate excessive printing, an email is all that is required to share the data. This will eventually result in the conservation of natural resources.
Strategic Advantage:
When you have access to digitized data, it is much easier to find records and information instantly. You can perform an analytical diagnosis, which can provide useful information.
Ultimately Digitization Secures and Protects Student Records
“Misplacement, inaccurate filing, and accidental deletion of paper records are all disadvantages of managing paper records.”
This problem is instantly solved by digitizing the records. Digital files are safely stored, indexed, and instantly recovered when required. These documents are saved on a third-party cloud platform. There are various levels of access permission, each requiring a security key.
A secure digital student record is only accessible and managed by authorized persons. This safeguards a student’s privacy by preventing anyone who does not have the appropriate authorization from reading the academic records.
More importantly, it safeguards a student’s academic record against unauthorized modification, theft, or destruction. Digital records are resistant to tampering and misuse.
Final Thoughts on Digitizing Student Data with EduHealth
EHR systems, such as EduHealth, offer advanced functions such as efficient data administration, scanning and aggregating data from physical forms and medical documents, and analyzing student health data. It can help assess health trends such as communicable diseases.
School population health data shared via EduHealth EHR can be used to track vaccine compliance, environmental and chronic health issues, and effective prevention measures. EduHealth also streamlines and simplifies the school nurse’s documentation tasks, making it easy to gather, review, update, and delete data as required by various laws.
The significance of digitizing information in terms of confidentiality, security, privacy, and regulatory compliance cannot be understated. In today’s world, converting your students’ records to digital format is a crucial advancement for tracking, managing, and transferring medical records. Using digital innovation, EduHealth can help your school’s health system in progressing and providing better health care.
