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.
- 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.
- 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.
- A progress note is usually brief and may not be of much help for future medical research.
- 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.
- Patients are unable to write down their opinions or add their views to the doctor's advice.
- 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.