Patients and care partners reported potential safety concerns in about one-quarter of reports, often resulting in a change to the record or care. Early data from an OpenNotes patient reporting tool may help engage patients as safety partners without apparent negative consequences for clinician workflow or patient-clinician relationships.
Walker, Jan
OpenNotes: How the power of knowing can change health care
The OpenNotes initiative is engaging patients through shared clinical notes. What have we learned since its debut, and how will open access continue to change the health care landscape?
Your Patient Is Now Reading Your Note: Opportunities, Problems, and Prospects
Patients have unprecedented online access to their medical records. More than 6 million Americans can now read their doctors’ notes via patient portals, and continued rapid growth is likely. Sharing notes with patients may yield important health benefits, including increased patient empowerment and improved medication adherence. Seeing written information, including notes, helps patients remember the plan of care, reinforces patients’ positive behaviors, and strengthens the patient–doctor alliance.
Transparenz in der Arzt-Patienten-Kommunikation
Den Patienten den Einblick in die eigenen Gesundheitsinformationen zu gewähren, kann unter anderem ihre aktive Rolle verstärken. Sie sind daran interessiert, bei der Erstellung und Bereitstellung ihrer medizinischen Aufzeichnungen beteiligt zu werden. Da sich die Transparenz im Umgang mit medizinischen Dokumenten gegenwärtig ausbreitet, ist es wichtig, ein besseres Verständnis für Vor- und Nachteile zu gewinnen. Das gilt für Patienten und Ärzte gleichermaßen. Zudem können Zielgruppen identifiziert werden, die möglicherweise unterschiedliche Formen der Übermittlung erfordern. Weitere, vertiefende Studien sind notwendig.
Patient portals and personal health information online: Perception, access, and use by US adults
Background: Access to online patient portals is key to improving care, but we have limited understanding of patient perceptions of online portals and the characteristics of people who use them.
Methods: Using a national survey of 3677 respondents, we describe perceptions and utilization of online personal health information (PHI) portals.
Transparent Electronic Health Records and Lagging Laws
Millions of patients are accessing their medical records online via secure electronic patient portals. They are also increasingly uploading data directly into their records, and many clinicians now offer patients ready and ongoing access to the notes that document encounters. In response, patients report improved understanding of their care, better recall, enhanced adherence to care plans, and an increased sense of control over their health.
When doctors share visit notes with patients: a study of patient and doctor perceptions of documentation errors, safety opportunities and the patient–doctor relationship
Patient advocates and safety experts encourage adoption of transparent health records, but sceptics worry that shared notes may offend patients, erode trust or promote defensive medicine. As electronic health records disseminate, such disparate views fuel policy debates about risks and benefits of sharing visit notes with patients through portals.
Soliciting patient feedback on visit notes: An educational opportunity
Patient and family engagement is gaining attention as a priority in patient care1 and medical education.2 OpenNotes, an innovation that invites patients to read their visit notes through a secure online portal, has demonstrated several health benefits.3 Over five million U.S. patients have online access to their notes today; shared visit notes may not only engage patients in care but also open the door to new educational innovations.
Intrigued by the idea of patient/family feedback on visit notes, our research team asked residents and their supervisors whether such feedback would be helpful.4 In surveys and focus groups, many agreed it would be.
Opening Residents’ Notes to Patients: A Qualitative Study of Resident and Faculty Physician Attitudes on Open Notes Implementation in Graduate Medical Education.
OpenNotes is a growing national initiative inviting patients to read clinician progress notes (open notes) through a secure electronic portal. The goals of this study were to (1) identify resident and faculty preceptor attitudes about sharing notes with patients, and (2) assess specific educational needs, policy recommendations, and approaches to facilitate open notes implementation.
Patients learning to read their doctors’ notes: the importance of reminders
As millions of patients nationwide increasingly gain access to clinicians’ notes, explicit email invitations to review notes may be important for fostering patient engagement and patient-doctor communication.
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