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Open Notes in Swedish Psychiatric Care (Part 1): Survey Among Psychiatric Care Professionals

Petersson, Lena LU orcid and Erlingsdottir, Gudbjörg LU (2018) In JMIR Mental Health 5(1).
Abstract
Background: When the Swedish version of Open Notes, an electronic health record (EHR) service that allows patients online access, was introduced in hospitals, primary care, and specialized care in 2012, psychiatric care was exempt. This was because psychiatric notes were considered too sensitive for patient access. However, as the first region in Sweden, Region Skåne added adult psychiatry to its Open Notes service in 2015. This made it possible to carry out a unique baseline study to investigate how different health care professionals (HCPs) in adult psychiatric care in the region expect Open Notes to impact their patients and their practice. This is the first of two papers about the implementation of Open Notes in adult psychiatric care... (More)
Background: When the Swedish version of Open Notes, an electronic health record (EHR) service that allows patients online access, was introduced in hospitals, primary care, and specialized care in 2012, psychiatric care was exempt. This was because psychiatric notes were considered too sensitive for patient access. However, as the first region in Sweden, Region Skåne added adult psychiatry to its Open Notes service in 2015. This made it possible to carry out a unique baseline study to investigate how different health care professionals (HCPs) in adult psychiatric care in the region expect Open Notes to impact their patients and their practice. This is the first of two papers about the implementation of Open Notes in adult psychiatric care in Region Skåne.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe, compare, and discuss how different HCPs in adult psychiatric care in Region Skåne expect Open Notes to impact their patients and their own practice.

Methods: A full population Web-based questionnaire was distributed to psychiatric care professionals in Region Skåne in late 2015. The response rate was 28.86% (871/3017). Analyses show that the respondents were representative of the staff as a whole. A statistical analysis examined the relationships between different professionals and attitudes to the Open Notes service.

Results: The results show that the psychiatric HCPs are generally of the opinion that the service would affect their own practice and their patients negatively. The most striking result was that more than 60% of both doctors (80/132, 60.6%) and psychologists (55/90, 61%) were concerned that they would be less candid in their documentation in the future.

Conclusions: Open Notes can increase the transparency between patients and psychiatric HCPs because patients are able to access their EHRs online without delay and thus, can read notes that have not yet been approved by the responsible HCP. This may be one explanation as to why HCPs are concerned that the service will affect both their own work and their patients. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
electronic health record, eHealth, baseline survey, mental health, open notes, psychiatry, health professionals
in
JMIR Mental Health
volume
5
issue
1
article number
e11
publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85042098885
  • pmid:29396386
ISSN
2368-7959
DOI
10.2196/mental.9140
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
68d6ba5a-3f2e-453d-847a-5a2f5d43c9d4
alternative location
https://mental.jmir.org/2018/1/e11/pdf
date added to LUP
2018-01-30 11:10:37
date last changed
2021-06-16 01:16:32
@article{68d6ba5a-3f2e-453d-847a-5a2f5d43c9d4,
  abstract     = {{Background: When the Swedish version of Open Notes, an electronic health record (EHR) service that allows patients online access, was introduced in hospitals, primary care, and specialized care in 2012, psychiatric care was exempt. This was because psychiatric notes were considered too sensitive for patient access. However, as the first region in Sweden, Region Skåne added adult psychiatry to its Open Notes service in 2015. This made it possible to carry out a unique baseline study to investigate how different health care professionals (HCPs) in adult psychiatric care in the region expect Open Notes to impact their patients and their practice. This is the first of two papers about the implementation of Open Notes in adult psychiatric care in Region Skåne.<br/><br/>Objective: The objective of this study was to describe, compare, and discuss how different HCPs in adult psychiatric care in Region Skåne expect Open Notes to impact their patients and their own practice.<br/><br/>Methods: A full population Web-based questionnaire was distributed to psychiatric care professionals in Region Skåne in late 2015. The response rate was 28.86% (871/3017). Analyses show that the respondents were representative of the staff as a whole. A statistical analysis examined the relationships between different professionals and attitudes to the Open Notes service.<br/><br/>Results: The results show that the psychiatric HCPs are generally of the opinion that the service would affect their own practice and their patients negatively. The most striking result was that more than 60% of both doctors (80/132, 60.6%) and psychologists (55/90, 61%) were concerned that they would be less candid in their documentation in the future.<br/><br/>Conclusions: Open Notes can increase the transparency between patients and psychiatric HCPs because patients are able to access their EHRs online without delay and thus, can read notes that have not yet been approved by the responsible HCP. This may be one explanation as to why HCPs are concerned that the service will affect both their own work and their patients.}},
  author       = {{Petersson, Lena and Erlingsdottir, Gudbjörg}},
  issn         = {{2368-7959}},
  keywords     = {{electronic health record; eHealth; baseline survey; mental health; open notes; psychiatry; health professionals}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{JMIR Publications Inc.}},
  series       = {{JMIR Mental Health}},
  title        = {{Open Notes in Swedish Psychiatric Care (Part 1): Survey Among Psychiatric Care Professionals}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mental.9140}},
  doi          = {{10.2196/mental.9140}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}