Moore Foundation grantee, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, shared new research in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Quality and Safety related to OpenNotes. The one-year study included more than 6,200 patients, of which 44 percent read their medical notes. Results from the study suggest that offering patients a mechanism to provide feedback about their notes further enhances engagement and can improve patient safety. These results align with the Patient Care Program’s goal of improving the experience and outcomes of patient care.
Lead author, Sigall Bell, M.D., OpenNotes director of Patient Safety and Discovery and associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School said: “Our findings add to a growing literature suggesting that patients can help identify mistakes. We were struck that nearly all patients and care partners in the study found the feedback tool valuable. What that indicates to us is that patients are eager to help their health care teams ‘get it right.’”
Among those who provided feedback, 23 percent reported potential safety concerns, most commonly citing possible mistakes regarding medications (an area the foundation will be focusing on through its continued work in patient safety), or documentation of existing health problems or symptoms. Upon clinician review, 64 percent of the patient reported items were confirmed as definite or possible safety concerns, and 57 percent of the cases resulted in a change to the record or care.
Read the full press release here.
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