Medical note system could boost patients ’ engagement in their health care

Encouraging patients to help write and add notes to their personal medical charts — a task typically handled only by medical professionals — may help patients feel more involved with their own care and improve relationships with their doctors, a new study has found.Inresearch published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, doctors at UCLA Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that patients could benefit if they are invited to co-produce medical notes, called “OurNotes,” with their doctors, rather than merely reading them. The practice may also benefit doctors by reducing time spent on documentation.The growingOpenNotes movement allows doctors to share visit notes with patients, who may then contribute to their own medical records via OurNotes — adding material such as symptoms or medical issues they experienced since their last visit, along with goals for upcoming visits.“If executed thoughtfully, OurNotes has the potential to reduce documentation demands on clinicians, while having both the patient and clinician focusing on what’s most important to the patient,” said lead author Dr. John Mafi, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general interna l medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. An OurNotes pilot program will start at four centers in 2018, Mafi said.To prepare for the pilots, researchers conducted in-depth telephone interviews with 29 health care experts. There were 11 primary c...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news