deaths from antimicrobial resistance – or help identify causes of, factors of and contributors to diseases, especially when combined with genome-wide association studies. For such purposes, electronic medical records could potentially be made available in securely anonymized or pseudonymized forms to ensure patients' privacy is maintained. Contents A patient's individual medical record identifies the patient and contains information regarding the patient's case history at a particular provider. The health record as well as any electronically stored variant of the traditional paper files contain proper identification of the patient. Further information varies with the individual medical history of the patient. The contents are generally written with other healthcare professionals in mind. This can result in confusion and hurt feelings when patients read these notes. For example, some abbreviations, such as for shortness of breath, are similar to the abbreviations for profanities, and taking "time out" to follow a surgical safety protocol might be misunderstood as a disciplinary technique for children. Media applied Traditionally, medical records were written on paper and maintained in folders often divided into sections for each type of note (progress note, order, test results), with new information added to each section chronologically. Active records are usually housed at the clinical site, but older records are often archived offsite. The advent of electronic medical records has not only changed the format of medical records but has increased accessibility of files. The use of an individual dossier style medical record, where records are kept on each patient by name and illness type originated at the Mayo Clinic out of a desire to simplify patient tracking and to allow for medical research. Maintenance of medical records requires security measures to prevent from unauthorized access or tampering with the records. Medical history The medical history is a longitudinal record of what has happened to the patient since birth. It chronicles diseases, major and minor illnesses, as well as growth landmarks. It gives the clinician a feel for what has happened before to the patient. As a result, it may often give clues to current disease state. It includes several subsets detailed below. Surgical history The surgical history is a chronicle of surgery performed for the patient. It may have dates of operations, operative reports, and/or the detailed narrative of what the surgeon did. Obstetric history The obstetric history lists prior pregnancies and their outcomes. It also includes any complications of these pregnancies.