Do you wonder what your doctor scribbles in the chart during your visit?
Patients at Harborview Medical Center got to read their medical records, including their doctors’ detailed notes. For some, that access prompted them to become more involved in their health care.
Linda Johnson, 67, had been relatively healthy all her adult life. She didn’t think too much about her health. Then two things happened that changed her outlook.
In 2008, she fell unconscious in her office. When she came to, there were paramedics trying to resuscitate her. She has since recovered from that incident, but looking back, that jolted her. “I realized it was time to focus on my health,” she says.
That year, Johnson retired from her job in real estate development so she could better manage her health. “The only thing I knew to do was to cut down the stress in my life, which was my job,” says Johnson, “and go see my doctor, take my medications. That’s all I knew.”
Two years later she discovered a new tool to help her do more than that. Johnson was part of a national study where she got access to her medical records.
Read Ruby De Luna’s full article or listen to the NPR radio recording here!
