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In the news: Hospital makes physicians’ notes accessible to patients

Medical Staff Leader Insider, June 24, 2009

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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston is launching a one-year Open Notes campaign, which will enable 25,000 to 35,000 patients to read the notes their physicians write after each visit, according to The Boston Globe. The campaign, which will involve 100 practitioners, is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is aimed at finding out whether patients who read their medical notes will better remember and understand their physicians’ instructions and catch mistakes.

Physicians, of course, are apprehensive that patients will unnecessarily worry about precautionary tests or take offense to certain comments, including those regarding their weight. Physicians are also worried that patients will e-mail numerous follow-up questions asking for clarification on the notes, which are written for other doctors involved in the patients care and may include abbreviations and medial terminology that patients don’t understand. For example, a physician may use “SOB” in a medical note to indicate shortness of breath, but patients may interpret that, well…differently.

However, the promise of transparency and reduced medical errors makes the experiment worth a shot. It will be interesting to see if patients will take advantage of the opportunity to view the notes and if they find them helpful.

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