EMR vs paper records: what changes for your clinic
Most clinics in Nigeria still keep patients in paper folders and record books. This is what changes when the chart moves onto an EMR, and where paper still has a point.
The short answer
Paper is cheap to start and works without electricity. An EMR takes time to set up, but the chart is readable, found in seconds, and still there after a flood, a fire or a misfiled folder. If more than one person needs the same record on the same day, an EMR is usually worth the effort.
Side by side
How the two compare, question by question.
Question
Paper folders
Doctoro EMR
Finding a patient’s history
Someone searches the records room. Folders get misfiled, or leave the room with a clinician.
Search by name, phone number or hospital number from any desk.
Reading the notes
Depends on the handwriting.
Typed notes, results and prescriptions, each with the author’s name.
Allergies
Written somewhere in the folder, if they were noted at all.
Shown at the top of every chart, before anything else.
Several people at once
One folder can be in one place at a time.
The desk, the doctor and the lab can open the same chart at the same time.
Follow-ups
A note in the folder or the record book, easy to miss.
Sent to the desk to book, with the reason, and visible until it is done.
Prescriptions
A handwritten slip the patient carries.
Sent electronically to the pharmacy the patient chooses.
Who opened the record
No trace.
Every access is logged.
When there is no power
Still works.
Needs a charged device and an internet connection.
When the patient moves
Their history stays in your records room.
With the patient’s consent, it can follow them to their next clinic on Doctoro.
Where paper still works
It needs no electricity, no internet and no training.
It costs very little to start.
Many clinics keep paper forms as a fallback for outages while they switch, and enter the visit once they are back online.
What you gain with an EMR
One readable chart per patient, found in seconds.
Allergies and current medication that cannot be missed.
Follow-ups that reach the desk instead of a drawer.
A record of who looked at what, for patients and regulators.
What switching looks like
Send the onboarding request. Tell us about your facility and your team.
We call you. We learn how your clinic runs today, paper and all.
We set up your workspace. Staff accounts with the right role for each person.
Bring in your patient list. Import it from a spreadsheet, or register patients as they arrive.
Start with new visits. Older folders can stay on the shelf until a patient comes back.
Questions clinics ask
Do we have to scan all our old folders?
No. Many clinics start with new visits and add history as patients return. Your existing patient list can be imported from a spreadsheet.
What happens when the internet or power goes off?
The EMR runs in a web browser and needs a connection. Keep a short paper form for outages and enter the visit once you are back online.
Who can see a patient’s record?
Each role sees what it needs and no more, and every access is logged. Patients decide what they share from their own Doctoro records.
Can we get our records out again?
Yes. The EMR includes an export for the records your facility holds.
See the EMR for yourself.
Tell us about your facility. Nothing is set up or charged until we have spoken with you.
