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Recently, I wrote on NPR’s Shots Blog about the movement towards open medical records and the pioneering work of OpenNotes by Dr. Tom Delbanco and Jan Walker. Here’s an excellent RWJF podcast about why they decided getting health care providers to share their notes with patients, and where their work is headed next. 

Here’s a hint: what if the 3 million patients who now have access to their clinician’s notes could co-write notes with their providers?

I'll add another thought: what if we go beyond written medical records, and patients wish to have audio- or video-tapes of their doctors' visits?

Patient advocates have responded very positively to the OpenNotes concept. I was curious about what doctors think of it and other movements to transparency. Emily Peters from Doximity was kind enough to help me with an informal poll of Doximity users (doctors who register to be on their site). We asked 3 questions and asked doctors to use a 1-5 scale, 1 being not at all likely to 5 being very likely. We received 113 responses:


(Please note that I have no financial with Doximity, and this poll is not meant to be a scientific study.)

I’d love to know what you think about this. Do the data surprise you? What do you think about open medical records, and patient-initiated requests to audiotape/videotape their medical encounters?