DOCTOR PROGRESS NOTES

A progress report is a document, given by a physician, doctor, pathologist or a nurse to keep a track of a patient's medical condition and recovery stages.

A progress note may sound as an appealing, self-sufficient record but it does have a few shortcomings.

1. A progress note is written manually and hence, it is very difficult for the doctors to draw statistical models to infer data. Statistics is a vital feature of providing health care and a lack of it doesn't present a complete picture to the patient.
2. A progress note, which is an important document, requires careful handling. A patient needs to ensure that his/her progress note doesn't get mixed up with other documents or get misplaced.
3. A progress note is usually brief and may not be of much help for future medical research.
4. Doctor progress notes might also lack 100% transparency, which may be because the patient is trying to hide something from the doctor or vice-versa or the patient may just not remember all the facts needed to write a comprehensive note.
5. Patients are unable to write down their opinions or add their views to the doctor's advice.
6. Most of the doctors, physicians, nurses and pathologists generally follow a given format to write a medical progress record. It may happen that the standard format may not cater to everyone's need and some important points are missed out.

Despite the multiple drawbacks, Doctor progress notes are still used, even in large hospitals. With the changing trends and technology, electronic health records is gaining popularity since it overcomes most of the cons of a medical progress note. By - Jessica