BMJ: Unintended consequences of open access to medical notes (2)

10 July, 2022

Sorry that this piece- 8. "Accessing personal medical records online: a means to what ends? Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Richard Fitton, Amir Hannan, Brian Fisher, Terry Young and Julie Barnett International Journal of Medical Informatics" was not referenced in yesterday's HIFA BMJ article analysis:

Accessing personal medical records online: A means to what ends?- Science Direct

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386505614001932)

The article sets out:

Background-

Initiatives in the UK to enable patients to access their electronic health records (EHRs) are gathering momentum. All citizens of the European Union should have access to their records by 2015, a target that the UK has

endorsed.

Objectives-

To identify the ways in which patients used their access to their EHRs, what they sought to achieve, and the extent to which EHR access was related to the concept of making savings.

The second unreferenced piece Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Amir Hannan, Bruce Elliott, Ingrid Brindle, Haughton Thornley Patient Participation Group and Richard Fitton "The view of a general practitioner on immediate access for patients to their laboratory test results". The view of a general practitioner on immediate access for patients to their laboratory test results (degruyter.com) (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/cclm-2018-0743/html)

".....presents the role of laboratory test results in traditional general practice and provides a recommendation for responsible sharing of results with patients for improved safety, efficiency and outcomes. This paper looks at the relationship between the laboratory, the general practitioner consultation, the patient, safety and general practice capacity. We suggest changes in the traditional practice of communicating laboratory test results whereby normal or abnormal results are made available to patients as soon as they become available. We also endorse the opinion that using online tools such as email or text messages could enhance the provision of rapid access to laboratory test results for patients."

HIFA profile: Richard Fitton is a retired family doctor - GP, British Medical Association. Professional interests: Health literacy, patient partnership of trust and implementation of healthcare with professionals, family and public involvement in the prevention of modern lifestyle diseases, patients using access to professional records to overcome confidentiality barriers to care, patients as part of the policing of the use of their patient data. Email address: richardpeterfitton7 AT gmail.com