Are You Being Honest With Your Doctor?

Patients may not always be so honest with their doctor. Recent findings published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that close to one in two patients withhold clinically sensitive information from healthcare providers.

For the study, researchers at Clemson University, the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Eskenazi Health analyzed the preferences of 105 patients during a six-month study period. They interviewed patients about their privacy and sharing preferences to create a user interface that helped them control how and to whom their medical data was shared.

The study authors explained that participants were allowed to indicate certain preferences for what doctors were allowed to see, such as information on sexually transmitted diseases or mental health issues.

However, clinicians were able to override many of the preferences and view hidden data by clicking a "break the glass" button. This software would then automatically record the time and patient name when this occurred.

Findings revealed that about 40 percent of all participants who participated in the study chose to withhold information from their doctor.

Not only was this dangerous when it came to providing the proper care, but it also made the doctor-patient relationship rather uncomfortable.

"It is important for patients to have confidence in how clinicians and others use their sensitive health information," concluded Lucia Savage, chief privacy officer of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, in a news release. "Patient-centered decision making in electronic health information exchange can inspire trust in health IT and the papers in the journal, along with this study, give us new insights on these issues."

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