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Patients Evaluate Visit Notes Written by Their Clinicians: a Mixed Methods Investigation
- Source :
- J Gen Intern Med
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- BACKGROUND: Patients actively involved in their care demonstrate better health outcomes. Using secure internet portals, clinicians are increasingly offering patients access to their narrative visit notes (open notes), but we know little about their understanding of notes written by clinicians. OBJECTIVE: We examined patients’ views on the clarity, accuracy, and thoroughness of notes, their suggestions for improvement, and associations between their perceptions and willingness to recommend clinicians to others. DESIGN: We conducted an online survey of patients in 3 large health systems, June–October 2017. We performed a mixed methods analysis of survey responses regarding a self-selected note. PARTICIPANTS: Respondents were 21,664 patients aged 18 years or older who had read at least 1 open note in the previous 12 months. MAIN MEASURES: We asked to what degree the patient recalled understanding the note, whether it described the visit accurately, whether anything important was missing, for suggestions to improve the note, and whether they would recommend the authoring clinician to others. KEY RESULTS: Nearly all patients (96%) reported they understood all or nearly all of the self-selected note, with few differences by clinician type or specialty. Overall, 93% agreed or somewhat agreed the note accurately described the visit, and 6% reported something important missing from the note. The most common suggestions for improvement related to structure and content, jargon, and accuracy. Patients who reported understanding only some or very little of the note, or found inaccuracies or omissions, were much less likely to recommend the clinician to family and friends. CONCLUSIONS: Patients overwhelmingly report understanding their visit notes and usually find them accurate, with few disparities according to sociodemographic or health characteristics. They have many suggestions for improving their quality, and if they understand a note poorly or find inaccuracies, they often have less confidence in their clinicians.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
media_common.quotation_subject
MEDLINE
Specialty
01 natural sciences
law.invention
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
law
Surveys and Questionnaires
Perception
Internal Medicine
Electronic Health Records
Humans
Medicine
Quality (business)
Narrative
030212 general & internal medicine
0101 mathematics
Original Research
media_common
business.industry
010102 general mathematics
Jargon
Family medicine
CLARITY
Willingness to recommend
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15251497 and 08848734
- Volume :
- 35
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ba20309aefb3ae5aa0c5d5631835823c