and can serve as a data source for an EHR. In contrast, a personal health record (PHR) is an electronic application for recording personal medical data that the individual patient controls and may make available to health providers. Comparison with paper-based records While there is still a considerable amount of debate around the superiority of electronic health records over paper records, the research literature paints a more realistic picture of the benefits and downsides. The increased transparency, portability, and accessibility acquired by the adoption of electronic medical records may increase the ease with which they can be accessed by healthcare professionals, but also can increase the amount of stolen information by unauthorized persons or unscrupulous users versus paper medical records, as acknowledged by the increased security requirements for electronic medical records included in the Health Information and Accessibility Act and by large-scale breaches in confidential records reported by EMR users. Concerns about security contribute to the resistance shown to their adoption. When users log in into the electronic health records, it is their responsibility to make sure the information stays confidential and this is done by keeping their passwords unknown to others and logging off before leaving the station. Handwritten paper medical records may be poorly legible, which can contribute to medical errors. Pre-printed forms, standardization of abbreviations and standards for penmanship were encouraged to improve the reliability of paper medical records. An example of possible medical errors is the administration of medication. Medication is an intervention that can turn a person's status from stable to unstable very quickly. With paper documentation it is very easy to not properly document the administration of medication, the time given, or errors such as giving the "wrong drug, dose, form, or not checking for allergies" and could affect the patient negatively. It has been reported that these errors have been reduced by "55-83%" because records are now online and require certain steps to avoid these errors. Electronic records may help with the standardization of forms, terminology, and data input. Digitization of forms facilitates the collection of data for epidemiology and clinical studies. However, standardization may create challenges for local practice. Overall, those with EMRs that have automated notes and records, order entry, and clinical decision support had fewer complications, lower mortality rates, and lower costs. EMRs can be continuously updated (within certain legal limitations: see below). If the ability to exchange records between