Open Notes in the Context of Humanistic Medicine

Sharing the medical record with the patient has become a reality with the advent of the electronic health record. The present article by Rodts et al. presents the early stages of introducing the shared record in a pediatric cardiology setting. Putting the shared record in the context of humanistic medicine, we can see this procedure as the latest step in bringing patients and family in as part of the care team. As practices have evolved from universally small entities to parts of larger corporate entities, we can see that the responsibility for humanistic care has enlarged to include the host organization as well as the clinician. Supporting the shared medical record is simply one of the new humanistic care responsibilities of the new health care organizations.