Patients ’ reactions to the content of their health records

Abstract: In many countries, an increasing number of patients now make use of their legal right to access their health record. In this paper we shed light on how patients perceive the dominant biomedical perspective of the record. Do patients think that other perspectives should be more present? We report preliminary results from an interview study in which eight patients who have asked for a copy of their electronic health record following a hospital stay have been interviewed. Our results show that the patients are not surprised by the dominant biomedical perspective of the record and they generally don’t react negatively to it. Some patients however point out situations where this perspective has showed to be too limited and ask for a more holistic view on their situation. At the same time, health personnel’s attempt to relate bodily symptoms to psychosocial issues is sometimes experienced as stigmatizing by patients and is not always welcomed. We conclude that for the documentation of psychosocial issues in the health record to be of value, health personnel should be more aware of their own potential prejudices and ask the patient about his view before concluding on these issues in the record