As the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) spreads, health-care organizations are increasingly offering patients online access to their medical records. Studies evaluating patient attitudes towards viewing elements of their records through secure, electronic patient portals have generally not included medically underserved patients or those with HIV/AIDS. The goal of this study was to gain insight into such patients’ attitudes towards online access to their medical records, including their doctors’ visit notes.
Tom Delbanco
The Atlantic: Would You Want to See Everything Your Doctor Writes About You?
Let’s say you gained a bit of weight since your last physical. You know it, deep down at least, but you don’t really want to talk about. You’ve convinced yourself that it’s just a phase. It’s one thing to have your doctor point it out to you in the exam room. But what if, at…
Inviting Patients to Read Their Doctors’ Notes: A Quasi-experimental Study and a Look Ahead
Electronic medical records and secure patient portals hold exciting potential for more active patient involvement in care and improved communication between patients and clinicians. These technologies facilitate a potentially disruptive innovation: Doctors can readily invite patients to read and share their visit notes and even contribute to the notes’ formulation. We conducted a quasi-experimental study, OpenNotes, in which more than 100 primary care physicians (PCPs) volunteered to invite more than 20 000 of their patients to review online the notes that the doctors wrote and signed after an office visit
The Boston Globe: Patients benefit from reading doctors’ notes, study shows
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…
Ted Eytan, MD Blog: Now Reading: OpenNotes results are HERE
by Ted Eytan “little impact on doctors, 99% of patients recommended continuation” When I was visiting Group Health Cooperative in Seattle 2 weeks ago, I was involved in a conversation about releasing/sharing imaging results with patients online, as Group Health (@GroupHealth) has been doing for about a year (See: What Group Health Physicians are saying about…
Welcome to OpenNotes! A letter from Tom Delbanco and Jan Walker
In 2010, we invited patients of more than 100 primary care doctors from three diverse medical institutions to read their doctors’ notes online. Our overall goal is to help patients become more actively involved in their care and to draw patients and their healthcare team closer together. To do that, we need to foster meaningful,…
Health Expectations: The urban underserved: attitudes towards gaining full access to electronic medical records.
As the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) spreads, health-care organizations are increasingly offering patients online access to their medical records. Studies evaluating patient attitudes towards viewing elements of their records through secure, electronic patient portals have generally not included medically underserved patients or those with HIV/AIDS. The goal of this study was to gain…
Benefits from Destroying the Black Box (or Are We Opening Pandora’s Box?)
These days, commentary about bankers, politicians, or school systems is almost invariably accompanied by a call for “increased transparency.” And it’s not different for us in medicine. Spurred by electronic technologies, black boxes are being torn open right and left, bringing disruptive changes to both doctors and patients. We applaud these changes and argue that attendant benefits will far outweigh risks. And whether you agree or not, it’s probably futile to try to interfere with an unstoppable progression.
TIME Healthland: Can Patients Handle the Truth? Getting Access to Doctors’ Notes
by Alice Park The last time you were at the doctor’s office, and your physician scribbled or typed something into your chart, did you wonder what it said? If so, you’re in the majority: according to a new survey, more than 90% of patients said they would want to know. Not surprisingly, most doctors were…
Inviting Patients to Read Their Doctors’ Notes: Patients and Doctors Look Ahead: Patient and Physician Surveys
Background:
Little is known about what primary care physicians (PCPs) and patients would expect if patients were invited to read their doctors’ office notes.
Objective:
To explore attitudes toward potential benefits or harms if PCPs offered patients ready access to visit notes.
Design:
The PCPs and patients completed surveys before joining a voluntary program that provided electronic links to doctors’ notes.
