As the OpenNotes movement continues to grow, a broad variety of journalists, patients and health care professionals are taking note. Even better, they’re sharing the facts, data, opinions and experiences of those sharing medical notes. See what the buzz is all about.
If you’ve ever visited a therapist, you’ve likely experienced this very moment: You spill your heart out, anxiously await a response, and your doc looks down—scribbling into a notebook or tapping away at an iPad. You’re stuck: “What is he writing?!” About 700 patients at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—part of a preliminary study at…
At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, therapists are giving mental health patients access to therapy notes and charts, something patients commonly have access to in other fields. The doctors behind the project say that opening mental health records up to patients allows for a more participatory, active, and collaborative therapy practice. Critics argue…
David Baldwin wasn’t sure how he had come across the other day in group therapy at the hospital, near the co-op apartment where he lives with his rescue cat, Zoey. He struggles with bipolar disorder, severe anxiety and depression. Like so many patients, he secretly wondered what his therapist thought of him. But unlike those…
Health-care providers are giving patients more access to their medical records so they can help spot and correct errors and omissions. Studies show errors can occur on as many as 95% of the medication lists found in patient medical records. Errors include outdated data and omissions that many patients could readily identify, including prescription drugs…
New tools for Seattle’s tech savvy health consumers to track their health care details “Our patients want OpenNotes, and it will help them to become involved and educated partners in their medical care,” says study coauthor Joann G. Elmore, M.D., M.P.H., and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center.…
In a classic “Seinfeld” episode, Elaine Benes learns that her medical chart says she is “difficult” because she refused to wear a paper exam gown. Her efforts to resolve the situation aggravate doctors, leaving her with an untreated rash. In the real world, where medical charts are increasingly electronic, some providers have started sharing doctor notes with patients.…
Listen to Dr. Tom Delbanco and a panel of clinicians and consumers discuss OpenNotes on the Diane Rehm Show. By law, most patients have the right to access their medical records. But obtaining them can be time-consuming and expensive. A growing number of health advocates are pushing to give patients easy electronic access to physicians’…
For years, the woman went to a Boston hospital to talk to a therapist about being depressed and overweight. The therapist, listening closely, asked questions and jotted down notes on a memo pad. Until recently, the 54-year-old woman didn’t know what her therapist was writing. Then, last month, her therapist offered to share his notes…
