Utilisation of the Australian government initiative MyHealth Record to support the clinical approach to factitious disorder. Issue 8 (6th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alchin, David R.; Overton, Kristen; George, Duncan; Murphy, Michael; Wand, Anne P. F.
• Is Part Of: Internal medicine journal. Volume 50:Issue 8(2020)
• Page Start: 1006
• Page End: 1008
• Publication Date: 2020-08-06
• Subjects: factitious disorder -- malingering -- MyHealth Record -- medicine -- psychiatry -- Australian; Medicine -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1111/imj.14945
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1444-0903

Abstract

Abstract: Recently, the Australian Digital Health Agency launched MyHealth Record to the public. As of July 2019, 90.1% of Australians hold records with this service, allowing 16 400 health organisations access to >28 million clinical documents. The streamlining of patient data was intended to facilitate sharing of information and improve communication between medical providers, while promoting efficiency in clinical practice. We have identified a hitherto unrecognised application of this infrastructure in the identification and management of factitious disorder, a rare yet highly diagnostically challenging condition involving intentional feigning of illness, which presents a significant resource burden to the Australian health system.