The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

I wonder how our doctors feel about us seeing all this information ahead of time and posing questions to them after we see what we only half understand.

@becsbuddy, @artscaping, @gingerw, @larryh123, and all...

Well, my goodness. A great discussion about finally having access to our own bodies' information. Finally! I'm horrified at waiting weeks or longer to hear from your doctor with the results of testing, sometimes testing that may be life-changing. That's torture for many patients. And as I'm now experiencing, I had bloodwork done 2 weeks ago and still haven't gotten anything from my doctor that makes sense. Only a sentence from a nurse I don't know who obviously hadn't read my file nor even glanced at the messages I sent prior explaining some history with these issues. This is not my Mayo portal, but My Chart that's a new portal based on the Mayo design using the same company. Finally, they have a decent, working portal...but the offices must catch up with the system. The office staff isn't able to respond for some reason. So, I'm ready to go elsewhere for my PCP...

I'm actually considering a new primary care physician, even though I adore this doctor with whom I've worked for over 25 years because he's not responded to my direct questions re the test results on the portal. That isn't acceptable to me - I need answers.

You know, as a patient I spent decades attempting to get basic information and explanations about symptoms and tests. Decades trying to get doctors to hear me. Then, here came the Mayo Patient Portal and Connect! Wow! I was thrilled, and am still thrilled. No other system is so responsive, no other doctors are so open and responsive. I get many results by the time I get home after the testing.

You know, I've been on this health journey for so long, most of my life, and experienced some horrid doctors and poor systems. The change to Mayo was a huge breath of fresh air. In fact, I could begin breathing and living with less anxiety and stress. Mayo has saved my life and my sanity. I'm so thankful for the kindness and real caring exhibited by the Mayo staff and professionals in person and on the portal.

Yes, there is information available I don't understand, but I'm fully capable of researching responsibly, on legitimate sites, usually Mayo and Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, and such. I'm getting good info and the doctor either via phone or the portal messaging talks with me and I better understand the discussion. After all, it's my body, my tests, and my decisions and now I am a vital part of the discussion. Finally!

May you all be blessed as you walk this health journey and become even more of your own advocate with a good understanding of your issues. Blessings. elizabety

I don’t care how my doctor feels. I pay for these tests. I deserve to have the results. There is nothing more nerve-wracking than waiting days or a week or more to see your doctor after a test is performed. I WANT to know whether I have anything to worry about. Nothing worse than wasted energy thinking the worst, only to be told when you finally get to see the doctor that everything is fine! I’m 77 years old. It makes me sick to see how the medical profession has changed from caring GPs to a mostly impersonal industry where we’re just another piece of meat. There are times we have to bite the bullet and get in line, but I put more trust in naturopaths and chiropractors for my routine medical care. They spend more time and are more compassionate than what I get in a 10-minute “wellness” appointment with my PCP, where I spend more time in the waiting room than I do with the doctor.

Boy, you got that all right!

I like getting my test results quickly on the patient portal. Often the doctor prepares me ahead of time for possible results and what they mean. If I don’t understand the results I go to Google Scholar and search the words or phrases. I have found that I can search an entire sentence in my results and get a readout of what it means. My caveat is that it’s good to learn as much as you can before seeing the doctor, allowing you to take in more information more easily, but the doctor will put the results into a wider context and your results might not be as bad as you think.

IN 1985 I was treated in Toronot for cancer of cervix stage 2. I have NOTHING from my file/s from the doctors I saw prior to treatment - one saying it was a hygiene problem; another upon intimate exam 'I can't see anything' although I knew something was drastically wrong. I also have not one piece of paper from my file from the hospital... in those days we didn't ask for or get copies of reports etc. It was not until my return to the hospital for checkup that I even asked what size the tumour had been! To this day I have no idea what the treatment was etc etc etc.. this is wrong. The family doctors and specialist I saw have either moved away or retired... and by the time I was aware I could obtain copies of my file/s it was too late - except for my word I have nothing to prove I even had cancer! Now in the Province of Canada in which I live I can request copies of info from my family dr/nurse file; can request from local hospital copies of reports etc., and from another hospital in Toronto can get copies of reports from my file from my home without requesting it. Both local labs, one charges $10 a year and one is free, I can get copies on Intrnet of results of blood and urines tests but they have to be sent (not necessarily seen by) the ordering dr. Yes I have also found many errors regarding what I said or such and I have a copy of emerge report saying I did not have a small stroke when in fact six months later I discovered via another Dr. that I had, but took no action. My spouse is not at all interested in seeing any of his file/s, he does not read the accompanying information sheets from his 10 or so meds; that's his choice, but now after not seeing my files for dozens of years, I want to see EVERYTHING. Also very handy when I print out a report say from a private lab... the hospital has no access to this information! So if recent can show the dr at emerge or such the results, and vice versa.... it is so helpful and saves me having the same tests twice. Yes can be upsetting to read about things discovered in reports, but we will be advised about it ultimately.... one downfall is I now have a lot of paperwork and files and having many illnesses am finding myself a bit swamped with paperwork, but its worth it, to me. Years ago after xrays of kidney dr told me all ok; i found out year later had cyst; ok, not a huge deal, but why didn't he tell me; also had uterus punctured during d&c and surgeon said there were problems, hadn't I had symptoms, and he also took appendix out while fixing - again, didnt find out until a year later.... from another doctor; to me that was wrong and now that type of thing wont happen again! I would imagine some drs. are concerned about being sued, and I have had just cause to in the past, but I didn't and wouldn't - but please just tell me the truth..... sorry so long .. but also one of our office buildings had a fire and drs. patient files were lost... so if we had our own copies would have saved a lot of records that went up in smoke!

By seeing the test results and other documents ourselves we also know what questions to ask. Knowledge is power. If we don’t know the facts, we don’t know what to ask.

Before you write off your doctor of 25 yrs. make sure that he got the messages you sent him. I say this because I was getting annoyed with a friend who hadn't answered my 2 emails asking if she wanted to see a show. When I finally ran into her I found out that she never saw the emails. She is more into texting and very rarely even looks at her emails.
However, a two week wait for blood work is unacceptable. Perhaps calling the office, everyday if need be, to ask for the results. Here again could be an honest mistake...good luck !

Any time I have seen something i simply messsge th md office thru the patient portal. I have always received a response within 24 hours, sometimes a next day phone call. Much better than waiting weeks for sn appointment

Yes! I find the response is quicker when I use the portal rather than the phone.