by Liz Kowalczyk,
Should patients be able to read the notes doctors write about them? Physicians have disagreed about this issue for years. But in a new study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, patients reported that opening up notes increased their understanding of their medical problems and improved their compliance with medication regimens.
Despite initial fears about revealing their notes, most primary care doctors in the study said it did not increase their workload, and all 105 physicians continued the practice after the study ended. Results of the research — which also was conducted at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania and Harborview Medical Center in Washington — were posted online Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Read the full Boston Globe article here.
