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Abstract
Background: Health care is shifting from a paternalistic to a participatory model, with increasing patient involvement. Medical record accessibility to patients may contribute significantly to patient comanagement.
Objectives: To systematically review the literature on the patient perspective of effects of personal medical record accessibility on the individual patient, patient–physician relationship and quality of medical care.
Methods: Screening of PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl, and Cochrane Library on the keywords ‘medical record’, ‘patient record’, ‘communication’, ‘patient participation’, ‘doctor–patient relationship’, ‘physician–patient relationship’ between 1 January 2002 and 31 January 2016; systematic review after assessment for methodological quality.
Results: Out of 557 papers screened, only 12 studies qualified for the systematic review. Only a minority of patients spontaneously request access to their medical file, in contrast to frequent awareness of this patient right and the fact that patients in general have a positive view on open visit notes. The majority of those who have actually consulted their file are positive about this experience. Access to personal files improves adequacy and efficiency of communication between physician and patient, in turn facilitating decision-making and self-management. Increased documentation through patient involvement and feedback on the medical file reduces medical errors, in turn increasing satisfaction and quality of care. Information improvement through personal medical file accessibility increased reassurance and a sense of involvement and responsibility.
Conclusion: From the patient perspective medical record accessibility contributes to co-management of personal health care.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ms. Marie Blankaert for providing administrative support.
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributors
Peter Vermeir received his MPM, MPA, and MBA degrees from Antwerp Management school, Antwerp University (Belgium) in combination with Fordham University (New York) and School of Economics (Moscow), in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He is currently a head nurse of the department of General Internal Medicine at Ghent University Hospital (Belgium) and PhD student at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium). His particular fields of interest include health care management, communication in health care, and the economic impact of quality improvement initiatives. He has studied Hospital Management at several universities and management schools, including Ahmedabad IIM (India), Leuven, Ghent and Antwerp (Belgium), Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania as well as the Insead Business School (Fr) and followed a special course in Leadership in Healthcare as well as in value measurement in Health Care at the Harvard Business school (USA). He is an academic member of the Athens institute for education and research ( Greece).
Sophie Degroote received her PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2016. She is currently postdoctoral researcher at the department of General Internal Medicine of the Ghent University Hospital (Belgium). Her particular fields of interest include patient safety, patient adherence and the economic impact of quality improvement initiatives.
Dominique Vandijck is Professor of Healthcare Innovation, Health Economics & Patient Safety at the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences of Hasselt University, and at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, as well as the Faculty of Pharmacy at Ghent University (Belgium). He is also affiliated to the Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases of Ghent University Hospital. His main research interests include quality & safety topics, from a health economic perspective, primarily within the field of infection control, aimed at improving healthcare management performance. He holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium).
Hanne Van Tiggelen received her MSc from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2015. Currently she is a PhD student at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium). Her particular fields of interest include Patients Safety and communication in Healthcare.
Renaat Peleman is Professor of General Internal Medicine , Infectious Diseases and General Immunology. He serves as Chief Medical Officer of the Ghent University Hospital since 2011. He is Director of the Knowledge Management Center of the Ghent University Hospital since 2010. He received an International Master for Health Leaderschip (IMHL) at Mc Gill University, Montreal (Canada) in 2010 and has studied Hospital Aministration and Hospital Management at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 2001. He received his Medical Doctor Degree and a subspecialty of Pulmonary Diseasesrom the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 1986 and 1992 and followed a special course in Pneumology at the Harvard Medical School. His main research interests include good problem solving and organisational and analytical skills in Health Care and Hospital Orginazition. He obtained a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 1990.
Rik Verhaeghe is Professor in Hospital Management at Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium), Department of Public Health. He is also Chief Nursing Officer at Ghent University Hospital (Belgium). His particular fields of interest include health care management, communication in health care and the economic impact of quality improvement initiatives and change management.
An Mariman trained as a Psychiatrist and somnologist. She is a Professor at the Departement of Internal Medecine within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium). She received her Medical Doctor Degree and a specialist Psychiatry from Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 1992 and 1997 respectively. She obtained a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2013 on the role of sleep in chronic fatigue syndrome. She is a Certified Somnologist-Expert in Sleep Medicine since 2014 (ESRS). Her particular fields of interest include Psychosomatic Medicine and sleep Medicine. She currently is a staff member of the department of General Internal Medicine at Ghent University Hospital where she heads the unit for Medically unexplained Physical Symptoms (MUPS)/Psychosomatic Medicine and non-breathing related sleep disorders, insomnia in particular. She also heads the research unit of MUPS related to sleep at the Department of General Internal Medicine.
Dirk Vogelaers received a training in internal medicine and intensive care medicine. He served as a staff member within the Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital Ghent under his mentor Prof Dr Francis Colardyn. He obtained his PhD in 1994 on the topic of the metabolism of postischemic left ventricular dysfunction in chronically instrumented animals, involving early PET studies. He then made an important career switch within the university hospital to create the unit for infectious diseases within the department of General Internal Medicine from 1996 onwards. He currently heads the department, that encompasses a broad range of fields within general internal medicine including an active infectious diseases consultancy, HIV/AIDS, travel medicine, medically unexplained signs and symptoms as well as a link to sleep medicine. His main research interests involve the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of invasive fungal infections, antimicrobial stewardship and the multidisciplinary approach of chronic fatigue and MUPS. He has (co-)authored over 200 scientific papers and is extensively involved in graduate and postgraduate teaching.
