Harm Arising from Patients Viewing Their Own Clinical Data

For example, a system could fail to indicate that a patient snffered from an infectious condition. Clinicians may therefore fail to take appropriate measures to prevent themselves being infected. Does this constitnte a hazard in scope of HIT CRM Similarly, should a system fail to indicate that a patient has violent tendencies -does this represent a risk if the patient were to harm a member of staff or another patient  

Opinion on this varies and in many conntries harm to staff is likely to be covered by other risk management frameworks snch as that of the UK s Health and Safety Executive [3]. As with some of the issues presented above, it is important either way, to formally include or exclude harm to staff and other patients in developing the scope of the SMS. 

6 Harm Arising from Patients Viewing Their Own Clinical Data 

Firstly one is required to examine the extended effeets of incorrect data in the clinical record. For example, suppose that data erroneously gives the impression that a patient s diabetes was well-controlled when, in fact, this was not the case. Potentially the patient could change the manner in which they approach their condition, become lax in managing their diet or reduce their compliance with medication instructions. A record can be misleading if the underlying data is incorrect but also, and perhaps more likely, when the manner in which it is presented to the consumer is suboptimal. Patients are unlikely to be expert users of the system and translating the entire medical record into a form that facilitates safe patient interpretation is no easy task. 

Secondly, thought should be given as to how support is provided for information which is released to the patient in electronic format. Suppose a laboratory test result is received by the system and is made automatically accessible to the patient. That simple data point could be fife-changing for the individual concerned either appropriately or erroneously. A patient s understanding of the information intended for a healthcare professional is also likely to be limited. When someone relies on an Internet search engine to support interpretation of the information in the record this can quickly give rise to confusion and (often needlessly inflated) concern. Add to this the fact that society is increasingly mak- 

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