Also called: Electronic health records · Patient health record
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Personal Health Records
You've probably seen your chart at your doctor's office. In fact, you may have charts at several doctors' offices. If you've been in the hospital, you have a chart there, too. These charts are your medical records. They may be on paper or electronic. To keep track of all this information, it's a good idea to keep your own personal health record.
What kind of information would you put in a personal health record? You could start with:
- Your name, birth date, blood type, and emergency contact information
- Date of last physical
- Dates and results of tests and screenings
- Major illnesses and surgeries, with dates
- A list of your medicines and supplements, the dosages, and how long you've taken them
- Any allergies
- Any chronic diseases
- Any history of illnesses in your family
It sits within Social/Family Issues, Health System and Personal Health Issues.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Personal Health Records
60 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Pre-anesthetic Teleconsultations During PregnancyUniversity Hospital, Bordeaux
- Adult Disease Risk Prediction Using Wearables, Hearing, and Health DataNational Health Research Institutes, Taiwan
- This Study Explores the Mental Health Impact of Two Akashic Records Sessions.Rasa Healing Inc
- Healthspan Connect Programme of ResearchKing's College London
- The Effect of Smartphone-Based Recording Offer on Patient Satisfaction in Orthopedic CareBlake Han
Research already completed
- Health Information for Infected VeteransVA Office of Research and Development
- SurvivorLink: Scalability of an Electronic Personal Health RecordEmory University
- Caremap: A Digital Personal Health Record for Complex Care CoordinationDuke University
- Feasibility Study of a Mobile Digital Personal Health Record for Family-Centered Care Coordination for Children and Youth With Special Healthcare NeedsDuke University
- Evaluation of Patient Access to People With Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Healthcare ProfessionalsThe Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Improving Diabetes Care Through Effective Personalized Patient Portal InteractionsVA Office of Research and Development
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Health Information Privacy: HIPAA for IndividualsDepartment of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
Related Issues
- All About Your Radiology Report: What to KnowRadiological Society of North America
- Creating a Personal Health Journal (Health Diary)American Academy of Family Physicians
- Health Information Privacy: ResearchDepartment of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
- How to Keep Your Health Information Private and SecureOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- The Guide to Getting and Using Your Health RecordsOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- Your Health Information PrivacyOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Statistics and Research
- FastStats: Electronic Health Records (EHRs)National Center for Health Statistics
- Individuals Use of Technology to Track Health Care Charges and CostsOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- Office-Based Physician Electronic Health Record AdoptionOffice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Electronic Health RecordsNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Health Records, PersonalNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Health Records, Personal, Meaningful Use. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Personal Health Records, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.