Der Arztbrief

The right of inspection in the hospital documents, the hospital discharge report for example, is often refused to patients in in-patient psychotherapeutic treatment (psychiatry, psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic medicine) with reference to the protection of the patients themselves, their doctors or relatives. Within a systemic therapy approach patients of an acute psychosomatic care unit in a hospital the patients could inspect the report of their hospital treatment including all ?objective” and ?subjective” data of their hospital stay. The conversation with patients and their relatives about this report and modifications of the details and addresses of the report in case of patients’ objections is considered as a psychotherapeutic tool (narrative of doctor and patient) in order to improve the transparency of the diagnostic and therapeutic process and the insights in the psychosomatic mechanisms of the patient’s disease. We discuss our organisation of cocreating the hospital discharge report and our experiences with this type of patient-doctor-communication.