Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England
Objective To describe the experiences and opinions of general practitioners (GPs) in England regarding patients having access to their full online GP health records.Design Convenience sample, online survey.Participants 400 registered GPs in England.Main outcome measures Investigators measured GPs’ e...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e078158.full |
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| author | Andrew Turner Charlotte R Blease Ray B Jones Maria Hägglund Catherine DesRoches Brian McMillan Gail Davidge Zhiyong Dong Anna Kharko |
| author_facet | Andrew Turner Charlotte R Blease Ray B Jones Maria Hägglund Catherine DesRoches Brian McMillan Gail Davidge Zhiyong Dong Anna Kharko |
| author_sort | Andrew Turner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To describe the experiences and opinions of general practitioners (GPs) in England regarding patients having access to their full online GP health records.Design Convenience sample, online survey.Participants 400 registered GPs in England.Main outcome measures Investigators measured GPs’ experiences and opinions about online record access (ORA), including patient care and their practice.Results A total of 400 GPs from all regions of England responded. A minority (130, 33%) believed ORA was a good idea. Most GPs believed a majority of patients would worry more (364, 91%) or find their GP records more confusing than helpful (338, 85%). Most GPs believed a majority of patients would find significant errors in their records (240, 60%), would better remember their care plan (280, 70%) and feel more in control of their care (243, 60%). The majority believed they will/already spend more time addressing patients’ questions outside of consultations (357, 89%), that consultations will/already take significantly longer (322, 81%) and that they will be/already are less candid in their documentation (289, 72%) after ORA. Nearly two-thirds of GPs believed ORA would increase their litigation (246, 62%).Conclusions Similar to clinicians in other countries, GPs in our sample were sceptical of ORA, believing patients would worry more and find their records more confusing than helpful. Most GPs also believed the practice would exacerbate work burdens. However, the majority of GPs in this survey also agreed there were multiple benefits to patients having online access to their primary care health records. The findings of this survey also contribute to a growing body of contrastive research from countries where ORA is advanced, demonstrating clinicians are sceptical while studies indicate patients appear to derive multiple benefits. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d2480ea5036a4e6aa528e28196c045bd |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-d2480ea5036a4e6aa528e28196c045bd2025-08-20T02:13:41ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552024-01-0114110.1136/bmjopen-2023-078158Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in EnglandAndrew Turner0Charlotte R Blease1Ray B Jones2Maria Hägglund3Catherine DesRoches4Brian McMillan5Gail Davidge6Zhiyong Dong7Anna Kharko87 University of Bristol, Bristol, UK1 Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden3 Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK1 Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden2 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA5 Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK5 Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK2 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA3 Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UKObjective To describe the experiences and opinions of general practitioners (GPs) in England regarding patients having access to their full online GP health records.Design Convenience sample, online survey.Participants 400 registered GPs in England.Main outcome measures Investigators measured GPs’ experiences and opinions about online record access (ORA), including patient care and their practice.Results A total of 400 GPs from all regions of England responded. A minority (130, 33%) believed ORA was a good idea. Most GPs believed a majority of patients would worry more (364, 91%) or find their GP records more confusing than helpful (338, 85%). Most GPs believed a majority of patients would find significant errors in their records (240, 60%), would better remember their care plan (280, 70%) and feel more in control of their care (243, 60%). The majority believed they will/already spend more time addressing patients’ questions outside of consultations (357, 89%), that consultations will/already take significantly longer (322, 81%) and that they will be/already are less candid in their documentation (289, 72%) after ORA. Nearly two-thirds of GPs believed ORA would increase their litigation (246, 62%).Conclusions Similar to clinicians in other countries, GPs in our sample were sceptical of ORA, believing patients would worry more and find their records more confusing than helpful. Most GPs also believed the practice would exacerbate work burdens. However, the majority of GPs in this survey also agreed there were multiple benefits to patients having online access to their primary care health records. The findings of this survey also contribute to a growing body of contrastive research from countries where ORA is advanced, demonstrating clinicians are sceptical while studies indicate patients appear to derive multiple benefits.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e078158.full |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Turner Charlotte R Blease Ray B Jones Maria Hägglund Catherine DesRoches Brian McMillan Gail Davidge Zhiyong Dong Anna Kharko Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England BMJ Open |
| title | Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England |
| title_full | Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England |
| title_fullStr | Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England |
| title_short | Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England |
| title_sort | experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access an online survey in england |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e078158.full |
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