Most Patients Curious About Their Medical Records Many want to take an active role in their health care

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Most Patients Curious About Their Medical Records

Many want to take an active role in their health care

By Reinberg

MONDAY, April 12 (HealthDayNews) -- If you've wondered what your doctor is

writing about you in your medical record, you're not alone: Most patients

want

to take a peek, researchers report.

Moreover, people who want to know what's in their records are more

interested

in participating in their own health care and more likely to seek health

information from the Internet and other sources.

So says a report in the April 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study was done to estimate the growing demand for access to medical

records as records are made available electronically, said lead author

Jinnet B.

Fowles, senior vice president for research at the Park Nicollet Institute in

Minneapolis.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 guarantees

people access to their records, but this won't be practical until records

are

available electronically, she explained.

" We found that 36 percent of the patients were very interested in reading

their own record and another 43 percent were somewhat interested, " Fowles

said.

To gather their data, Fowles and her colleagues mailed a questionnaire to

4,500 adults who had recently visited a clinic; 81 percent responded.

The main reasons for wanting to read their record were to be more involved

in

their own health care, to understand their own condition better, and to see

what their doctor was saying about them, Fowles said.

" It's a mystery to patients what's in their medical records, " she added.

Sometimes they want to see if their record matches what the doctor is saying

about

them, sometimes it's curiosity, and sometimes it's because they have

forgotten what the doctor said, Fowles explained.

Patients are also interested in checking for mistakes and figuring out for

themselves what their condition is, she added.

In addition, patients for whom health is an important topic, independent of

their own physical condition, are more interested in looking at their

medical

record. " Why not? It's about me. What could be more gripping? It's a whole

book

about me, " Fowles quipped.

As far as doctors are concerned, many favor having patients look at most

parts of their medical record, including lab results, medical history and

medications ordered, Fowles said.

However, the sticky issue is whether patients should see progress notes, a

part of the report patients are extremely interested in seeing, she said.

Historically, doctors consider that part of the report not meant for

patients to

see, Fowles said.

" Doctor are concerned that patients won't understand these notes, or that

the

patient will misinterpret them, " she said. Doctors also fear that seeing the

se notes will cause a lot of questions to be asked, and some of the language

used may seem insulting to the patient and can damage the relationship with

the

patient, Fowles said.

The reason for these concerns might be a slight case of mistrust, she said.

Doctors may feel they can't write down what they think, and patients may

feel

they're not getting the whole truth, Fowles said.

" If you have anything less than perfect trust in your physician, you become

interested in reading your records, " she added.

Fowles said all research shows that when patients and doctors share

information, communication between patient and doctor improves.

Fowles believes patients should look at their records to monitor and

understand their own health. " As we move to more consumer involvement in

health care,

the medical record is the most vital tool that patients have to

understanding

their health, " she said.

Dr. C. Rosenthal is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine

at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He called Fowles' work " a

well

done study and we can rely on the results to reflect what the patients

really

think about reading their medical records. "

However, it's disappointing that only a third of patients really want to

review their records, he said.

" As expected, this group wants to be involved in their health care in a very

active way. So, we might use access to records as one way of motivating

patients to take an active role in their management, " Rosenthal said.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can tell you more about

your

right to your medical records. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse can tell you

more about medical records privacy.

SOURCES: Jinnet B. Fowles, Ph.D., senior vice president, research, Park

Nicollet Institute, Minneapolis; C. Rosenthal, M.D., professor and

chairman,

Department of Family Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo;

April

12, 2004, Archives of Internal Medicine

Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

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