Study published: Views, use, and experiences of access to pediatric electronic health records

Enabling patients to access their electronic health records (EHRs) is thought to promote patient empowerment by involving patients in their own care, but it also raises questions of availability and integrity. The study included 74 articles published between 2007 and 2021. Perspectives included children and adolescents, parents, healthcare professionals, and other groups.

The results indicate that concerns of children’s, adolescents’, parents’ and healthcare professionals’ online record access commonly differ from lived experiences. The researchers found that patients and their parents often expressed positive experiences of web-based access to electronic health records while healthcare professionals held more concerns. The main concern among healthcare professionals was maintaining information privacy and confidentiality for adolescents in regards to parental access.

– Numerous suggestions have been made to mitigate ethical issues, says Josefin Hagström, who is the first author of the article. Among them is education for adolescents, parents, and healthcare professionals on how access to EHRs can be both provided and limited.

Read the full paper ‘Views, Use, and Experiences of Web-Based Access to Pediatric Electronic Health Records for Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Scoping Review’. It is written by Josefin Hagström, Charlotte Blease, Barbara Haage, Isabella Scandurra, Scharlett Hansson, and Maria Hägglund.