BMJ webinars on patient access to medical records ends Dec 5, 2021

[Annette McKinnon]

BMJ will be hosting a series of webinars on patient access to medical records.

Below is a description of the 4 webinars. The four webinars will take place weekly, at 5pm GMT on Weds, from 10th November. The links to sign up to them via Zoom can be found at:

https://linktr.ee/BMJPatient I think that's 1:00pm eastern but please check it yourself.

BMJ Webinar series: Public access to medical records - why is progress so slow?

Medical notes have traditionally been ‘owned’ by their authors - clinicians - with access granted to patients as an afterthought. But there is growing momentum behind the idea that medical notes should, by default, be made available, in real time, to patients and their carers. After all, we can access our banking records, Internet histories and other data about us in real time. Why not our medical records?

Despite advances in technology, digital literacy, and favourable changes in legislation, progress towards making medical records easily available has been, with a few notable exceptions, glacially slow.

The BMJ has long believed that all patients should have easy, real-time access to their medical records and notes. In this series of webinars, hosted by the BMJ Patient Editor team, a powerful line-up of international experts will explore the underlying reasons for this slow progress from a variety of angles. In doing so, we aim to stimulate debate, discussion - and hopefully, action.

Webinar 1: What are ethical issues?

The first webinar will explore the issue from an ethical standpoint, and discuss frequent objections such as patient harm, loss of trust and diminished autonomy.

Wednesday 10th November 5pm (GMT)

Webinar 2: What are the professional and cultural barriers?

The second webinar will consider the ‘hearts and minds’ issues, from both the clinical and public perspectives. What are the key misconceptions? What training/assistance needs to be made available to medical professionals and members of the public to improve access?

Wednesday 17th November 5pm (GMT)

Webinar 3: How to avoid widening health inequalities?

In the third webinar, the focus will be on equality and equity of access - both within different communities, and between nations. How should this be implemented so as to ensure existing disparities are not widened.

Wednesday 24th November 5pm (GMT)

Webinar 4: What are the bureaucratic barriers and governance issues?

In the fourth and final webinar of this series on patient access to health records we will explore the issue from a practical standpoint, including GDPR challenges, concerns around sharing of records between countries, proxy access to health records and how to influence organisations to implement patient access to health records. How can progress be hastened in complex healthcare systems with many moving parts?

Wednesday 1st December 5pm (GMT)