Staff and family attitudes to keeping joint medical and nursing notes at the foot of the bed: questionnaire survey

• Published in: BMJ Vol. 319; no. 7212; p. 735
• Main Authors: Luke, S G M, Gallagher, A, Lloyd, B W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London British Medical Journal Publishing Group 18.09.1999; British Medical Association; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group; British Medical Journal
• Edition: International edition
• Subjects: Analysis. Health state; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child psychiatry; Children; Children & youth; Confidentiality; Epidemiology; Foot joints; Forms and Records Control; General aspects; Health care; Hospital beds; Humans; London; Medical Records; Medical sciences; Nurses; Nursing; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Patients; Patients' Rooms; Pediatrics - organization & administration; Polls & surveys; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Questionnaires; Reading; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Truth Disclosure; England; United Kingdom; Great Britain; Europe; London; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Health staff family relation; Questionnaire; Accessibility; Advantage; Health; Family environment; Medical record; Hospitalization; Public health
• ISSN: 0959-8138; 0959-8146; 1468-5833; 1756-1833
• DOI: 10.1136/bmj.319.7212.735

No of citations Advantages: Parental involvement in care of child or openness 61 Easy access to notes 37 Better medical care 18 People will think before they write 2 Disadvantages: Concerns about confidentiality 59 Misinterpretation of notes by family 19 Fear of loss or damage to notes 16 Concern about previous notes being forgotten 11 Inhibition about writing freely 5 Cannot do "casenote ward rounds" 1 Ten members of staff had seen an unauthorised person (usually a family member other than parents) reading the notes. [...]despite prompting, no member of staff reported any problems arising from these episodes Concern about previous hospital attendances being overlooked arose because the old notes were kept in the ward office, not at the foot of the bed.