A review of electronic medical record keeping on mobile medical service trips in austere settings

There have been limited attempts to tailor EMRs to mobile MSTs. Only Open MRS has a broad user base, and other EMR systems should consider interoperability and data sharing with larger systems as a priority. Several systems include tablet compatibility, or are specifically designed for smartphone, which may be helpful given the environment and low resource context. Results from this review may be useful to non-government organizations (NGOs) considering modernization of their medical records practices as EMR use facilitates research, decreases paper administration costs, and improves perceptions of professionalism; however, most MST-specific EMRs remain in their early stages, and further development and research is required before reaching the stage of widespread adoption.