Eliminating the “Morbid” in Obesity: A Step Toward More Sensitive Documentation in the Era of Open Notes
Authors: Thiago Gagliano-Jucá, Caroline M. Apovian
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2021)

Ideas and OpinionsOctober 2021Eliminating the "Morbid" in Obesity: A Step Toward More Sensitive Documentation in the Era of Open NotesThiago Gagliano-Jucá, MD, PhD and Caroline M. Apovian, MDThiago Gagliano-Jucá, MD, PhDNorthwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, McHenry, Illinois (T.G.) and Caroline M. Apovian, MDBrigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (C.M.A.).Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M21-2215 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail On 5 April 2021, a federal rule mandated sharing of medical notes with patients, including history and physical examination notes, progress notes, consultation notes, and discharge summaries. Sharing notes presents a novel opportunity to increase transparency, strengthening the physician–patient relationship while also providing patients a window into the diagnostic and therapeutic thought process, which may help engage them in their care. However, patients can also be offended by how encounters are documented, which highlights the importance of word choice in notes. In a large survey involving 22 959 patients from 3 diverse health systems who read at least 1 of their ...References1. Fernández L, Fossa A, Dong Z, et al. Words matter: what do patients find judgmental or offensive in outpatient notes. J Gen Intern Med. 2021. [PMID: 33528782] doi:10.1007/s11606-020-06432-7 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Puhl RM. What words should we use to talk about weight? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies examining preferences for weight-related terminology. Obes Rev. 2020;21:e13008. [PMID: 32048465] doi:10.1111/obr.13008 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. 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[PMID: 32333880] doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30102-9 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, McHenry, Illinois (T.G.)Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (C.M.A.).Grant Support: Dr. Apovian is supported by the Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center (P30 DK046200).Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M21-2215.Corresponding Author: Thiago Gagliano-Jucá, MD, PhD, Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, 4309 West Medical Center Drive, McHenry, IL 60050; e-mail, thiago.[email protected]edu.Current Author Addresses: Dr. Gagliano-Jucá: Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, 4309 West Medical Center Drive, McHenry, IL 60050.Dr. Apovian: Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 221 Longwood Avenue, RFB490, Boston, MA 02115.Author Contributions: Conception and design: T. Gagliano-Jucá.Analysis and interpretation of the data: T. Gagliano-Jucá, C.M. Apovian.Drafting of the article: T. Gagliano-Jucá, C.M. Apovian.Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: T. Gagliano-Jucá, C.M. Apovian.Final approval of the article: T. Gagliano-Jucá, C.M. Apovian.Obtaining of funding: C.M. Apovian.Administrative, technical, or logistic support: C.M. Apovian.This article was published at Annals.org on 14 September 2021. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics October 2021Volume 174, Issue 10Page: 1452-1453KeywordsBody mass indexBody weightHealth disparitiesInternational classification of diseases ninth revisionInternational classification of diseases tenth revisionMorbid obesityObesityOverweight ePublished: 14 September 2021 Issue Published: October 2021 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2021 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...