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Recent efforts to develop myself professionally in ‘Digital health literacy online training program’, being in the Information and Library profession, to help community members manage their own health literacy became a transformative experience as I looked at ‘My Health Record’ from a different experience. Years ago, I remembered taking part in a survey about My Health Record and how I felt excited about having digital access to my blood tests, reports, scans, x-rays, etc. I even started an account via myGov and took all the steps to link it with Centrelink. I had consultations with General Practitioner, Specialists etc. occasionally for different ailments and possessed test reports because of tests conducted to confirm if the issues were serious, etc.; however, I had forgotten to request them to add all my health records to My Health Record which I could access later at home.

The self-paced eight course modules not only offered many useful links and online training simulator to familiarize oneself with the multiple functions the website had that allowed individuals and health practitioners to access the records as per necessity but also had short video clips that emphasized digital health records’ significance during emergency situations. Not all family members keep the patient’s health reports and medications on their fingertips and the patient, if unconscious, might not explain what medical condition he was suffering from, what his prescribed medications were and what diagnosed allergies he had, etc. If at an unearthly hour a family member collapses, right treatment could save the patient’s life, which could be possible only if the doctor or surgeon, irrespective of their location, could access the patient’s digital health records using his details. My realization that I could find myself in a similar situation made me determined enough to contact the GPs, Specialists and surgeons to add my medical details to My Health Record.