SUBJECT INDEXING OF MEDICAL RECORDS WITH HEALTH SCIENCES DESCRIPTORS

Abstract

When properly and securely managed, patient medical records constitute a reliable source of information that is vital for rescuing and reconstructing collective memory within the healthcare field. From an archival perspective, these documents are transferred to permanent holdings due to their secondary value. However, the large documentary volume renders the retrieval process in medical records burdensome for scientific research, leaving their information underutilized. In view of this, the controlled vocabulary "Health Sciences Descriptors," which is widely consolidated for indexing scientific literature, presents a distinct advantage for the organization and representation of information in permanent archival medical records. The problem of this research is to investigate the feasibility of using this controlled vocabulary in indexing permanent archival medical records, aiming to enable subject searches in these documents. This study aims to explore the possibility of applying these descriptors within section 8 of the Brazilian Standard for Archival Description to develop the "Access points and subject indexing area". Conducted through bibliographic and documentary research, this qualitative and descriptive study is currently underway. It is expected that this ongoing study will contribute to the field of organization and representation of healthcare information as well as to the feasibility of research in permanent archival medical records.