I think that patients in the hospital or any health care setting should be provided a time to look at their chart and review their current health information. This could possibly encourage people to take a more active role in their health maintenance and the choices and decisions that they make. I realize that this would require more time and effort on the part of the healthcare facility, but I think that the long-term effects would be great.
I think that in order to view your chart there has to be a licensed staff member present to help prevent any chance of record altering and that leads to more medical expense, I still believe that the benefits are greater.
If someone was able to see trends in their lab work and blood levels they may be motivated to correct some of the negative changes in their lives and start their negative trends in a more positive direction.
I realize that at this time that basically everyone is given their test results, but I think there is something about see a physician’s full progress report in writing that makes a greater impression. It is a medical professional’s opinion about where a patient’s health stands possible future effects of the current conditions, and possible treatment options.
Often when people are in what could be a stressful situation they have a difficult time processing all of the information and retaining it for future reference. By having a time set that is just for reviewing their health information where they are able to make notes and write down questions they may have later for the nurse or physician there is more information retained.
I think that most people would like to have a greater sense of control over their health. Granted, there are some people that are limited on their ability to retain and/or comprehend the information and this change would not apply to them, but for the most part I feel that it would be of value to a large number of people.
I would hope that most physicians would want their patient’s to feel informed and know that there are mutual and well informed decisions being made. It would also help hold health care professionals more accountable for their actions. It would improve their listening skills when meeting with their patients and improve their accuracy in charting.
Last of all I feel that this would improve the overall level of safety in our healthcare system. Errors are more likely to be found when the chart is being reviewed by the patient themselves. For example, maybe a medication is listed as current that they haven’t taken in over a year, or they have a procedure listed that was never performed. These things may seem small, but could be very big. If a chart states that someone’s gallbladder has been removed and it has not, the likelihood that the physician would consider the patient’s gallbladder as a source of their discomfort is not very high. This is just one example of the many situations that could be improved or prevented if this process was implemented.
No comments:
Post a Comment