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Patient access to psychiatric records: experience in an in-patient unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nick Kosky  and
Tom Burns
Nick Kosky
Affiliation:
Section of Community Psychiatry, Department of Mental Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School Jenner Wing, Cranmer Terrace, Tooting, London, SW17 ORE
Tom Burns
Affiliation:
Section of Community Psychiatry, Department of Mental Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School Jenner Wing, Cranmer Terrace, Tooting, London, SW17 ORE
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Abstract

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Forty of 46 consecutive admissions to a psychiatric inpatient unit were encouraged to read their admission notes and discuss them with the Junior doctor. The offer was withheld for two patients with organic impairment. Twenty-eight patients (including 12 on compulsory admissions) accepted the offer. The 12 who refused were characterised by overall lower educational attainment. Diagnosis raised only a few problems, prognosis and maintenance treatment being the focus of most discussions. There was no evidence of a deterioration in the quality of notes or therapeutic relationships as a consequence of access. Only in one case was the exercise judged ‘harmful’, but ‘useful or essential’ in 22. Possible benefits for both patients and doctor are explored.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 19 , Issue 2: The Journal of Trends in Psychiatric Practice , February 1995 , pp. 87 - 90
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995

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