Medical records have existed for many years. Even from the 16th century. Today, they are known as electronic health records and are an essential part of patient care as well as the use of information for demographic and research purposes. In the past, records were not kept very well, if at all. This article will trace the evolution of medical records to what we use today. This article will explore how records were kept in the 16th century to how they are kept today. The importance of these files will also be explored as well as the methods that have been developed. In the 16th century, medical records were kept primarily as observations of what the doctor learned about a patient or the human body and not as a record of the patient's health and well-being. Two men, Simon Foreman and his protégé Richard Napier, were astrologers in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Forman began record keeping and after his death Napier took over. They treated patients based on what was happening in the stars rather than what was happening in their bodies. Of course, this did not help the patients in any way. Plus, obviously neither Napier nor Foreman had a very good reputation. Even though, somehow, there were still people, a lot of people, who consulted them when they were sick. The reason is never explained. However, they did something no one else had done before: they recorded their patients' symptoms. Both men were prolific recorders. Between them, they saw up to 50,000 people. These files or casebooks, as they are called, contained: “At least 90% of the questions concerned matters of health and illness. The rest included questions about marriage, career prospects, people... middle of paper ...... on a standardized form, therefore doctors could not easily compare notes (Olivia Banner. ( 2012). Now everything has changed with the use of computers. Records are easier to find, share, and enter data. Medical records are now called patient health records. Indeed, the records deal with the patient as a whole and not just what the doctor observed or did. These records now constitute a legal document and belong to the doctor and his office. As you can see, medical records are very important not only for the doctor but also for the patient. Over the course of history, they have evolved not only into a record of observations intended to prove the doctor right or to use as a means of collecting payment, but also as a means of tracking health and well-being. be of a patient. Medical records are very important and will continue to be so in the days and years to come..