– You’ve heard the old adage that records are made to be broken. How about a new one: Records are made to be shared. Did you ever see that episode of “Seinfeld” where Elaine goes to great lengths (and beyond) to see what her doctor is writing about her in her medical chart? Well, it’s funny because it’s true — patients want to know what’s in there — not because they want to backseat-drive their physicians, but because being able to review what happened in a visit in their doctor’s own words makes patients feel more comfortable and knowledgeable about their own health.
It’s a win-win
In a quasi-experimental study published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers evaluated the effect on doctors and patients of facilitating patient access to physician notes over secure internet portals.
Read Steven Ferguson’s full article here.
