By Gillian Strudwick, RN PhD, Registered Nurse and Project Scientist, CAMH
As a nurse, I have always known that patients can access the clinical notes I write in their health record. Yet not many of my patients have done so. There are several reasons. Some patients don’t know that they have the option of reading their clinical notes. Even if they do, the process involved in obtaining this material is often complicated and expensive, which can be discouraging. Then there are those patients who simply aren’t interested in reading their notes.
In 2014, several American psychiatrists wrote an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association advocating simple and straightforward electronic access for patients to their mental health records1 called OpenNotes2, this new way of managing and sharing health care information has since been embraced by organizations in the United States, Sweden and Canada. 3
Recently, I interviewed Stephen O’Neill, the founder of the OpenNotes movement for mental health, about his experience using and working with OpenNotes. I wanted to know what it’s like as a health professional to have your notes read, and how patients react to seeing their notes. You can watch the interview in the attached video.