Open access to medical records and reforms — Let’s hear from you!

This is open for debate. What are the patient workload and capacity implications of having access to the medical records?  Is it net benefit (as in more capacity due to better understanding and easier caregiving, lower cost/effort of accessing clarifying and helpful information) or net harm (as in docs using the record to communicate with patients rather than directly; records written in impenetrable jargon; access is through portals and other devices that patients negotiate via difficult and cumbersome protocols?).  What is your experience?

BMJ article

Short films about polypharmacy

Short films to discuss polypharmacy? Why not.  The entries to the First Short Film Festival about Polypharmacy and Health are here. These are great, instructive, fun, reflective, and artistic. Which one is your favorite?  Why? Simplifying treatments, drugectomies, physician-assisted noncompliance, medication therapeutic management – all of these reflect the need to reduce the burden of treatment imposed by complex, often unnecessary, and frequently unsafe medication programs.