Table.

Advantages and disadvantages of having notes at foot of bed, reported in questionnaire survey by 71 doctors and nurses

	No of citations
Advantages:
Parental involvement in care of child or openness	61
Easy access to notes	37
Better medical care	18
People will think before they write	2
Disadvantages:
Concerns about confidentiality	59
Misinterpretation of notes by family	19
Fear of loss or damage to notes	16
Concern about previous notes being forgotten	11
Inhibition about writing freely	5
Cannot do “casenote ward rounds”	1