Family Perception of OpenNotes in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND

OpenNotes, or sharing of medical notes via a patient portal, has been studied extensively in the adult population, but less in pediatric populations, and even more rarely in inpatient pediatric or intensive care settings.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to understand families' interaction with and perception of inpatient hospital notes shared via patient portal in a community Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

METHODS

At the end of the NICU discharge education, completed in the patient portal before discharge, families were offered an anonymous survey on OpenNotes.

RESULTS

Out of 446 NICU patients from March 16, 2022 to March 16, 2023, there were 59 respondents (13%). Race was primarily Asian (48%), and English was the predominant language (93%). Most families indicated that the notes were "very or somewhat easy to understand" (93%). Seventy-three percent of respondents felt much better about the doctor(s) after reading the notes, and 53% contacted the physicians about something in the notes. Six (16%) felt that OpenNotes were more confusing than helpful.

CONCLUSION

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study on NICU families' perceptions of OpenNotes, which indicated positive interactions with the doctors' daily progress notes and gave important suggestions for improvement.