Electronic medical records system

A medical records system, comprising:

• a point of care system to capture patient data at a point of care;
• and
• a patient data repository, in communication with the point of care system and with external systems, to store and organize the patient data for access by the point of care system, wherein the patient data repository comprises:
• a patient locator having a patient identifier,
• a data manager, in communication with the patient locator, to organize patient data for storage and retrieval using the patient identifier, and
• a data interface, in communication with the data manager, to transmit patient data to external systems and to receive patient data from the external systems.

A medical records system, comprising:

• a point of care system to capture patient data at a point of care;
• a patient data repository, in communication with the point of care system and with external systems, to store and organize the patient data for access by the point of care system;
• and
• a reference database in communication with the point of care system.

A medical records system, comprising:

• a point of care system to capture patient data at a point of care;
• a patient data repository, in communication with the point of care system and with external systems, to store and organize the patient data for access by the point of care system;
• and
• a legacy data system in communication with the patient data repository.

A medical records system, comprising:

• a point of care system to capture data at a point of care;
• and
• a patient data repository, in communication with the point of care system and with external systems, to store and organize the data in a patient record for access by the point of care system, wherein the data comprises interface files and wherein the patient record includes,
• a patient identifier, and
• at least one data structure including the patient identifier and the data.

A medical records system, comprising:

• a point of care system to capture data at a point of care;
• and
• a patient data repository, in communication with the point of care system and with external systems, to store and organize the data in a patient record for access by the point of care system, wherein the data comprises legacy files and wherein the patient record includes,
• a patient identifier, and
• at least one data structure including the patient identifier and the data.

A method of using an electronic medical records system, comprising the steps of:

• capturing patient data electronically at the point of care;
• organizing the patient data so as to form a patient record;
• filing the patient record;
• and
• retrieving the patient record to access the patient data for use in the care of a patient.

A method of communicating with an external source having an interface to an electronic medical records system, comprising the steps of:

• finding an interface for the external source;
• connecting to the external source using the interface;
• and
• converting patient data for transfer between the external source and the electronic medical records system.