The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

I've had frustration and anxiety from seeing that I have results in and the doctor hasn't spoken to me. I've even told them not to let me see it. They haven't been obeying, now I understand why. I guess I'll just make a decision to wait, or read them, depending on the type of result. It seems like the patient should be able to "opt out." I need the portal for appointments, etc.

@mariajean03 how unfortunate that there seems t be a conflict/misunderstanding between the doctor and nurse. Before you get into not trusting the medical staff, have you thought about setting up a meeting with the doctor? You want to discuss your health and what’s on the portal, NOT the disagreement. I would urge you to do that.
Will you call for an appointment this afternoon?

My patient portal with a University regarding a SIBO test has led to confusion between My Doctor and a nurse. Now the nurse seems to have control over what the doctor said on my patient portal! I reported it, but could lead to the cancellation of my test. Do you think I should trust any of them?

I find patient portal super useful, especially since I moved to a different state and was able to quickly retrieve my old records during my first appointment with a new doctor.

While biopsy and MRI results may be troubling for me, I prefer to be an informed patient. I like being able to see results early, and my doctors usually follow up a day or two after the results are in.

@bustrbrwn22 You ask a good question about the use of EHR—“can you opt out?” I looked up the Colorado regional health information exchange and found a phone number. You could try the same for your state.
I, personally, don’t want to opt out because it is so handy for me that my medical records follow me everywhere: ER to doctor’s office to physical therapy. It save me lots of hassle.
Do you not feel safe having your information shared?

Absolutely!! Unless you're a 'Doctor' ; you must read these reports knowing certain jargon is used in the medical field. Try not to be alarmed until you discuss it with your Doctor!!. They are trying to cover all the bases.

Patient portals are a necessity as they provide details which a physician may decide you do not need to know. I experienced this when a physician scheduled a biopsy, without informing me of the details and without my consent. The scan results clearly stated that a follow up scan should be done in 6 months. I has now been 5 years and I have not needed any invasive treatment.

Thanks for your very excellent information on patient records.

Ah, one of my favorite topics!
1) The mandated posting of test results and doctor's notes IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE TO PATIENTS. Everyone should read their records or get someone to help them. The Doctor's notes remind me and/or give me more background on what he/she is really thinking. The test results and especially CT/PET/MRI scans describe findings. Because I could read the CT scan, I immediately requested my records be sent to Mayo. The local specialist was not knowledgeable and wanted to do certain tests that would have been risky for me. I also add that one should be sure your specialist has knowledge of your specific problem. There are subspecialties under the Specialist umbrella, so they are not all equal!
2) The flow of medical records between institutions still needs to be improved upon. Big places use EPIC, but smaller medical groups do the minimum required by law, and do not have the IT personnel to forward records. One issue I see regards tests with numbers like blood tests. If done in one big place they provide the ability to chart previous values. But when this test is sent to another institution, it goes as a "document" and not "data" so it cannot be analyzed easily (somebody would have to enter the data) .
IDEALLY all medical records should go to one big global database, and institutions treating the patient would pull the record down - that would provide one database design so information can be analyzed.
THE FUTURE - once we get everybody's clinical profile into a well-designed database, the potential for medicine is incredible. For example, one can track easily how a certain medication works for people with different blood types, of different ages, with different problems or whatever is relevant. Example is with Covid. States are tracking, but not all in the same way so we lose information. Ideally, they should tell you when you got vaccinated, time that passed from vaccination when you got Covid, profile of who is sicker etc. That would help in deciding best time for boosters

This is a great topic. Technology now gives us so many options.. all information from all over the world, on any topic is at our finger tips.
I love the patient portal. I love i can link it to the portals of my primary doctor or other providers.
I just love the convenience and the 24/7 access to my information.
I had no less than 6 tests and visits in 1 day. It was frightening. I was able to keep track of each step, got the results as they were available.
Ultimately the doctors still called me at the end of the day to give me details and explain next steps. Technology does not replace the human factor but completes it, enhances it.

Not all information is released automatically. This addresses critical updates that could cause untimely and sometimes unecessary anxiety.
I had a hysterectomy after a cancer diagnosis. Tissue was sent for detailed diagnosis on the type of cancer. I saw on the surgery notes that the doctors requested the results be released manually to them.
At first i was frustrated. But not all information can be absorbed and processed efficiently by just reading alone when you are directly impacted .. and lets be honest, when you are not medically trained.
I am glad i had to wait for the phone call and the explanations.

So .. yeaaaah go team patient portal … and yeeaaaah go team doctors.

I have to add … patients portals are not all the same across providers … and technology only works the way the “owners” decide to use it.
Mayo Clinic is i think doing a great job. My primary doctor’s network is pretty good too.
I cannot say the same for another provider i have seen for 25 years regularly. Nothing to say against the medical care.
Oh they have a portal .. you can log in. .. it just is empty… nothing except for the personal information you input yourself. I decided to formally request all my medical records from them. Ironically, they scanned documents and posted them on a totally different portal…. Go figure.