The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

Very informative, thank you. I would like access to the database so I can copy them myself and share as needed

I ask for the disc at the end and am not allowed to have one.

I saw one of mine in Ambra as pending But it was resulted in my chart weeks ago.

Now both the imaging and report have been removed. This was after i complained about something.

Seems there's a way around everything.

Interesting they get to write notes on us, but we don't get to write notes on them!

I think it's so important to write reviews when we feel that something isn't the way It should be. It alerts other so they have a better understanding of what's really going on.

Sometimes the girls that comes in before the doctor makes the corrections for me...good luck !

Having access to my medical info on my patient portal is extremely important to me; I like to be in control because it enables me to protect myself.
How do I handle it? Simple! I program myself never to panic in front of new info that can make me anxious. I do not worry until I have receive a clarification from my doctor. It is just a question of mindset.

Where did our clinic notes, labs, and X-rays go?

I have the “MyChart” app and all the hospitals I ever visited have everything about me. Including doctors notes (buried at the bottom with a small font). I can also send messages instead of visits to my doctors offices.
Try it. You can link all the hospitals together. So I get my results almost as soon as the doctor attests to the findings. Also when the information is typed into their computers it automatically goes to my smartphone.

I am glad we have patient portals with access to our records. My career was in the medical field, so I always requested copies of my labs, reports, surgical notes, & kept files. It is our responsibility to advocate for ourselves. I don’t however, think it is good that our reports drop before our physicians have a chance to review them. This leads to a lot of misinformation. The web does not always provide an accurate answer, as getting an accurate answer often requires more knowledge than we have. Also, it seems that the expectation is that your doctor is on call to you. No physicians will stay in the field if they have to be on call to each of their patients, that is an unrealistic expectation. As I read people’s questions about results they have read, (before they talk to their doctor), it’s clear that there are so many misunderstandings, & so much anxiety, due to medical terminology being it’s own language (just as terminology for other professions ~law, scientific, psychiatric~to name a few). The answer to “what does ______ mean” has been “bright, which is normal”… there will always be differential diagnosis in reports, because we live in a litigious country, the wording often tells the professional that it is highly unlikely. The patient never reads that as an option. While we do “pay for these tests” & are “entitled to the results” these egocentric attitudes negatively impact our care. There has to be something in between. I’m sure this will not be a popular opinion. I decided to share it, because it’s not really a discussion if everyone is saying only the popular opinion.

I personally like to read reports before I talk to the doctor because I want to have time to digest everything and have my questions ready. There is nothing more frustrating to me than to have the doctor just read and discuss the impressions section, then give me a copy of the report so when I get home and read the details I'm left with questions. It may be a long time before I see that doctor again.

Sometimes there are incidental findings in a CT or other scan, but my specialist doesn't mention them if they are not related to the condition that doctor is treating me for. I find a lot of specialists have tunnel vision and only care about (or are knowledgeable about) their little piece of the puzzle. Or they may not want to bring up incidental findings because they don't want to take the time. If I ask questions, they can either explain it's something common (like liver cysts) or refer me to another specialist if there is a concern.

I do think it really depends on your personality. I like details. I'm pretty medically savvy especially about my own conditions. If I don't understand something, I research it so I can have an intelligent discussion with my doctor. If you're unfamiliar with the medical terms, you're less likely to understand and remember what the doctor tells you.

Some people don't like to know details and just want to be told what to do next. That's not me. I want to be sure everything makes sense. I believe you need to be informed in order to be your own best advocate. People that don't want to know the details are not likely to use the portal anyway.

Typically, when I read a report that has posted, I'm going to be seeing the doctor in a day or two to discuss it anyway so any misconceptions on my part will be cleared up soon. When we have to wait too long for a report, we can start to imagine the worst. Anticipation can be worse than reality. To me, there are more pros than cons to reading the report in advance of the visit.

You raise very valid points and I’ve always believed that patients have to have the respect and discipline to adhere to what the doctor told them their process of communicating results are, including timing. Some doctors now say “they’ll be on your portal, and you’ll hear from me only if anything’s out if the ordinary “. It’s tough if you have to wait 6 months until the next appointment in that case if confused at jargon or numbers, but hopefully the message system in a portal works for questions that gnaw on someone. If a person can’t respect the doctor’s process, perhaps the portal isn’t for them and they should insist up front to be contacted personally when the results come in, good or bad. I am a complicated patient with a lot of monitoring- doctors rarely leave me notes or interpretations of my frequent routine labs and scans. I’m on my own after reading them myself and waiting for next 6 month appointments with them when the repeat tests are due. I have to trust I’ll hear from them sooner if needed.
But things happen. I was in a university hospital, in 2019, had a bad reaction to a med they gave, and they did CT Scan on neck/head; while in there they joyfully reported to us that I did not have a stroke. It was 8 months later that I asked for a copy of that CT report as I was moving to a new state and was collecting medical records. The No-stroke report said there was an abnormal growth in my neck that needed correlation with ultrasound and biopsy. I had to accidentally find this 8 months later?
So mistakes and miscommunication or “well, our department was only looking for a stroke” happen. They didn’t even send that scan to my PCP back then. So at least I found it, followed up with those tests and of course it was cancer; I’ve been treated and now in the lifetime of monitoring, but hey, cancer is sooo much about early detection and that ball was dropped. The jargon in that scan was simple and didn’t need googling. I think these mistakes are rare, but what’s wrong now with the extra preventative measure of having patients read their reports, especially since they’re the major stockholder in them? It can only be a win-win in helping each other catch oversights. Most portal questions go through admins, not to the doctors directly until screened and deemed to need his response. I know the admins are busy too, but sometimes patients have very valid reasons to need understanding of the reports and can’t wait another 6 months for their 10 minute visit with them. But if the doctor up front said give him/her a week for results, then we must be forced to hold our reactions and questions of the results we receive in advance until then.

I agree with you in needing to be prepared with questions in advance, as their time is just so limited in today’s medical business model and we must make the most of those minutes with them.
It’s that business that forces our specialists into what you call “tunnel vision”, and we’re the ones, if able enough, trying to connect the dots across our whole medical picture and put the jigsaw puzzle together. We need each and everyone one of them, but we’re the centerpiece with hopefully a good PCP helping manage our total care. I’ve had well meaning specialists prescribe medicine or change doses of one, and it’s on me to ask my cardiologist or GI doc if it’s ok, and several times I could have negatively impacted another issue. So I agree it’s on us to help steer the ship and add some advocacy in our total team approach in managing our care, which makes timely access to reports crucial to having any needed and timely conversations with doctors during appointments.