The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

Once something gets into your chart such as a diagnosis, it is impossible to get it corrected. You can try to get medical records to change it but they won't. It is on your record permanently no matter what you can document otherwise. A very important thing to know is that if your physician is reading something on the computer (which they should have done prior to the appointment) they will not hear and remember anything that you inform them of. They will later accuse you of not telling them important information and you will have to deal with the consequences.

@vic83, that's a great idea in the right circumstances!
My goal this time was to arrive at the ED by ambulance while still having symptoms so maybe the cause could be diagnosed.
I should have started out earlier. By the time I was seen, I felt ok. Symptoms gone. Too late. I have to learn how to time it better.

You are correct about MyChart not being accurate as one would expect. My diagnosis sometimes leaves out important information. I have come to realize that summaries are only opinions as many times my summaries lack pertinent information.

One hospital referred me to a trauma hospital for “emergency surgery “ because a Ct scan showed a torn celiac aneurysm.

The trauma hospital said I had one and to arrange to come back to the hospital “but at this time it isn’t bleeding “. And he said to go to my own cardiovascular Surgeon asap.

My Surgeon said “oh, they always say that and “we have an appointment in March, I’ll see you then “ that’s 3 months away!
I demanded that he see me ASAP and he finally caved in and made an appointment two days away. I walk into the empty waiting area and I immediately was stopped half through the door. “Don’t you live in an assisted living facility?”

I said yeah and she said “shame on them for not providing you with a mask “ she waved me over when she got off the phone and was rude and condescending and gave me a mask. I have 3 in my room, I just forgot to grab one.

I filled out a paper and sat down. The door flings open and it’s the sonogram guy. After a half hour I was taken to an exam room and took my weight and blood pressure and she said “the doctor will be right with you”. He walked in looking annoyed and said “it’s no big deal “ then “I’ll see you in a year”
I said “two cardiovascular Surgeons said I have a tear in my celiac artery aneurysm. He said “well, I didn’t see a tear!” And I said “could it leak or burst?” He said “it could “ and I said “What do I do if it does?”
“Oh we have treatment for that.” What? “ you prefer I get into an emergency that is mostly fatal quickly?” It was obvious he was annoyed and lackadaisical. That’s when he gave me the “I’ll see you in a year.” Comment.

Now what do I do? He’s not interested in telling me that I have a torn Aneurysm and the whole appointment was a disaster and left me worried and wondering if I should just take his word or go for a second opinion. I have decided to get a second opinion. This doctor had nothing to say to me. He didn’t even see the CT scan and he didn’t see a tear. I had a CT scan with a contrast solution and he had an attitude and a sonogram that according to him he didn’t see the tear he said.

In fact when I saw the notes for the first time I saw my PCP for a Wellness Visit, I thought it was boilerplate form and someone else had done it. And that is not acceptable.
Very interesting to watch who is doing those notes. My Mayo pulmonologist writes excellent notes all by himself. My Cardiologist also writes his own notes and gets the dates of my health events correct.

I do like having immediate access to my results but like others here I feel it requires a lot of work on my part to interpret it and I am sometimes wrong about the results. I actually preferred it before patient portals when my doctor got right back to me about the test. I had one doctor who actually called me at home on the fourth of July to report good results so I could stop worrying. My doctor now writes back one sentence answers to my questions after three days not always answering all of them.

I love that we can see our medical history but I think the doctor needs to see first and send explanation. We can wait a few days for an accurate result!

Yes it is. My father's records were entirely wrong. My father and I sat down with the doctor to go over his medical problems. They had him an alcoholic, diabetic, heart something or other. The doctor assured me it was correct, but it turned out to be another patient with the same name. When I took my father to another hospital ER, I came them the record. Unfortunately, what the doctor change on the computer and what printed out was the old record that was not him. My father was admitted. The doctor did a total work up and found none of the diagnosis were correct. So, yes My Chart helps.

A nurse in a hospital whose job was to check all outgoing records to insurance to be sure diagnosis matched treatment said their largest doctor errors were inaccurate summary. Some of my summaries are signed by a doctor and some by nurse practitioners. I am not trying to make this a big issue but it is important for patients to check their summaries. The doctor who wrote cognitive dysfunction (she used a medical term) was horrified her voice translation inserted the wrong word. She corrected immediately.

I had to chuckle. Now that data from years past are now making portals, I have seen at least a dozen different doctors over 3 different states have notes that I used to live in a town called Wake Forest, NC. Not true, and irrelevant so I never corrected them. I did graduate from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem when I lived in that city years ago, so obviously an error in listening somewhere. Petty, but reinforces how all these systems merge and populate reports across the systems.

Good point. A nurse told me the summaries are usually cut and pasta; therefore, error are made.