Question

6. Identify equipment and supplies needed for filing medical records in order to: a. create b. maintain S. store. (V1.0.6)

Answer 1

Equipment and Supplies

To create medical record, “filing system requires filing equipment for storage purposes, location of files, and number of records to be stored and the cost of the equipment.

Storage Equipment

Paper medical records may be kept in various types of file cabinets or on open shelves. Usually the records are stored with the files side to side. The files may take up part or all of a room. In a rotary system, the medical assistant can move sections of shelving to access other shelves behind. Large offices may even use an automated system, which stores more records and brings the record to the medical assistant.

File Cabinets

Cabinets or shelves used to store medical records should always be of heavy construction, with proper weighting on the bottom so that they will not tip over, especially if the drawers or shelves pull out. File cabinets should have a locking system.

Lateral drawer file cabinets are more common than vertical file cabinets for medical records, although vertical file cabinets may be used for storing other types of information.

Lateral drawer file cabinets have drawers that open from the long side, resembling a chest of drawers.

Shelf Filing Units

Shelf filing units consist of shelves arranged horizontally similar to bookshelves. Shelf units are often used to store medical records because the records can be accessed without having to open and close drawers.

Adjustable metal shelf dividers that interlock at the back of the shelves come with the units. Their function is to keep the records in an upright position, thus preventing the records from slumping or sliding under one another.

File folders with side tabs must be used with shelf units to permit the patient’s name to be visible on the shelf. This means that the record is accessed from the side, rather than the top, as with drawer filing cabinets.

Shelf files are preferred because they allow easier access to records, and a number of people can have access to the shelves at the same time. Shelf units are available in two styles: open-shelf units or pull-down front units. As the name suggests, open-shelf units are open to the environment and cannot be closed. They must be in a room that can be locked separately from other parts of the office. The pull-down front units have lids that can be pulled over the front of the shelves and locked. It must always be possible to lock either the entire medical record room or individual shelving units.