A brief history of medical record-keeping

Abstract

The records of Medical observation, facts and developments, form the basic structure upon which the History of Medicine has been written. Some form of such records date back to early antiquity. Polythrone Murals have been found in Stone Age caverns, and silhouettes depicting trephining of the skull and the 'amputation of fingers appear on the walls of Paleolithic caverns in Spain. These date back about 2500 B.C. These early records were primitive in form and essentially descriptive, but they have put on record the Medical and Surgical achievements for generations to follow. Though not strictly records in the modern sense of the word, they are mute evidence that the authors of those days kept some form of records of the treatment that their patients used to receive.