If you’ve ever met with a therapist, you may have wondered what he or she is writing down while you’re speaking.
Maybe you’ve even tried to sneak a peek and decipher upside-down handwriting.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is removing that guesswork for some patients. A new pilot program lets carefully selected psychiatric patients read their therapists’ notes online.
Advocates of this approach say it enables more open and honest discussions about mental health treatment. Others worry the notes could have a chilling effect on the doctor-patient relationship – and might harm some patients by revealing information they misinterpret or aren’t prepared to read.
WBUR’s Sacha Pfeiffer explores the pros and cons of Beth Israel’s “open notes” experiment.
Guests
Stephen O’Neill, Social Work Manager for Psychiatry, Primary Care, and Infectious Disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
David Baldwin, patient at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who participates in group therapy under Stephen O’Neill and in the OpenNotes pilot program for selected psychiatric patients.
Katell Guellec, Senior Social Worker on an in-patient psychiatry unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She also has a small private practice in Brookline.
Listen to the radio show here.
