In one of my first blog entries, Thoughts on EHR, I wrote about the importance of the patient’s own story. In this specific entry I dealt with “historic” information that was crucial in treatment decisions.
In my speech for the ICUH conference in Baltimore, October 2007, I said:
“Only when linked to his medical records, both parts of the patient information, the scientific and the narrative can be valued against each other and complement each other. [...] I therefore am strongly against separate PHRs; once again, in my view the EHR, should contain all information concerning the patient.”
Today, Betty Rabinowitz M.D. in her article “Speech Recognition and the Patient’s Voice” confirms the importance of the narrative:
“For my patient, a template “hypertension note” would have done my interaction with her a grave injustice because the patient’s narrative was central to this encounter. Understanding her story dictated the medical decision not to increase her blood pressure medication in spite of the unusually high reading.”
Lodewijk Bos
