Patient access to hospital records: a pilot project

The results of granting hospitalized psychiatric patients the right of access to their current hospital record were investigated. Thirty-nine percent of the patients granted that right utilized it. No statistically significant difference between the patients granted this right and those not granted the right of access were detected in the measures of the effectiveness of the treatment program, the patient's attitude towards hospital or its staff, or the actual content of the record. Patients availing themselves of the right of access, however, did have a greater awareness of the treatment program and the content and purpose of the record, although in the main these differences were not statistically significant. Staff were comfortable with open charting and felt it could be used as a therapeutic tool.