Sharing clinical notes with patients.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient Engagement
• Clinical Documentation

Background:

• Patient portals are digital platforms for accessing health information.
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) incentives encourage patient access to health data.
• Providing patients access to clinical notes is a recent development in patient engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the current literature on patient access to clinical notes.
• To offer guidance for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) regarding patient access to clinical notes.
• To highlight the benefits and address potential concerns of patient access to clinical notes.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent studies on patient portal use and clinical note access.
• Analysis of feedback and concerns related to patients accessing their clinical notes.
• Synthesis of findings to provide recommendations for healthcare providers.

Main Results:

• Patient access to clinical notes through portals has generally received positive feedback.
• Few significant concerns have been reported regarding patient access to their own clinical notes.
• The trend indicates increasing patient engagement with their health information.

Conclusions:

• Expanding patient access to clinical notes is a positive step in patient-centered care.
• Nurse Practitioners can leverage patient portal features to enhance communication and understanding.
• Further exploration of best practices for implementing patient note access is warranted.