Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

This Is A Reassuring Finding On Patient Access To Pathology Results. Makes Most Happy Apparently.

The following popped up a little while ago.

Patients like seeing lab results online

October 7, 2013 | By Ashley Gold
Patients able to view their lab results online overwhelmingly reacted positively to being able to do so, according to a new study published in the Journal of Participatory Medicine.
The study conducted an email survey of Kaiser Permanente members who had viewed at least one test result online in the last year, with 1,546 respondents. According to the study, survey participants reported, "high levels" of satisfaction, appreciation, calm, happiness and relief. Few were confused, upset or angry at being able to see lab results online. 
After reviewing results online, the most common actions were discussing results with family and friends, looking up information online or making a graph of results over time. It was also important for doctors to set patients' expectations--in doing so, they were less likely to follow up on test results by calling, emailing or setting up new appointments, according to the study.
"The findings that patients largely react positively to seeing test results online should be reassuring to physician practices that are considering adding a patient portal with PHR to their practice websites," study authors wrote. The study results could serve as a good reason to expand test outcomes online for practices already using patient portals.
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To learn more:
- read the
study
Lots more here with additional relevant links.
This is a useful study and is really worth close reading:
The direct link is here:
The full paper is accessible for free.
One worry is that a small but significant minority - considering the number of results that are generated were confused, anxious or angry.
Clearly having the doctor being able to set expectations and to comment directly to the patient are useful features.
David.

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