The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

I have database experience also. Your comments were well made but led me to conclude that I wasn't clear about one of my points. I've been a patient of the Mayo Clinic for eons. They were the first in my experience with a medical facility where the physicians were all able to share data with others at Mayo by the minute ... you leave one appointment and the MD at the next one knows what the first did, the assessment and the like. In my comments I may have used the word "clinic" in a way that is being interpreted differently. My experience where data was shared was by a portal vendor selling their systems to two different medical facilities not at all connected with each other in any way. The data shared inappropriately and without my knowledge or permission was very dated and some was incorrect. Also I had considered your very salient point then about emergencies in that situation. If not caught by me early on, it could well have been quite serious.

I am soooo grateful for patient portals! Without patients portal I would be in the dark about many different aspects of my Heart Failure. My Cardiologist present and past never has/had the time to go through all the different test results, and since my heart failure has caused a cognitive decline, I wouldn’t have remembered any details anyway.

I can look at lab results and doctors notes, and decipher them by simply doing research, then asking my cardiologist specific questions regarding concerns I have. It has made everything so much less stressful for me. I am definitely far more informed of my disease than I would have been without access to my medical information. 🙂

I whole heartedly agree with your comment! I would be a walking stress ball if I had to wait to get my test results from my doctor, which could be several days later. I am so incredibly grateful to have access to my records.

Because I’m familiar with medicine I can usually understand what I read but sometimes I have to get my husband to interpret as he’s a physician. I freaked once on the drs verbiage he chose to use on a ct scan. Ultimately I get my hubby to read results in case it’s bad because I freak out if it is. Overall access to internet and portals have probably caused more harm than good. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss!!

I use my doctor’s portal. I just leave my message then by 4:00 that day I get a new prescription if needed or an increase in dosage.

I am not charged yet for the service.
I understand that Mayo may charge a fee for using the portal for various purposes. This is new information that I didn’t know about.
I will keep my PCP portal as it’s still free so far. They call me regarding my submission within 3 hours and any new prescriptions are filed from my Doctor directly to my delivered medication as he orders it from his laptop and by 4-4:30 my meds are delivered straight to my office.
I was on 300 mg of Wellbutrin XL in the morning and he upped it to 450 mg mornings. I just started today so I will wait until it starts working before I message or see him in person if the increased dose has bad side affects.

It shouldn’t because I took the GeneSight DNA test and Wellbutrin is considered ok for me. We’ll see.

I love it. I get to read doctor's notes which is helpful because I don't have to be bothered taking notes during the visit. Also if I have a question I post it to the doctor and generally get an answer within 24 hrs. I find it saves time.

Mostly a blessing I think, I have found the portals very useful. The trick is to NOT try to interpret those results just because you can read English 😊. Curious to know what your MD husband thinks of the same question.

Well my hubby, not having the illness anxiety I have, probably thinks they’re great lol. He doesn’t really understand how helpful or damaging they can be because he’s pretty healthy and when he’s had acute health issues he doesn’t worry. He simply waits patiently to see the doc face to face. In retrospect I’d say the portals can be good in that occasionally my hepatic/GI nurse practitioner will actually respond to questions or concerns I send on the portal. I have to communicate with him that way often because appointments are scarce and his staff are horrible, once they didn’t answer the phone for 2 days. As far as communication directly with my actual hepatologist….that’s laughable. I can’t see him until mid next year.

Let me add, I’d probably love my portal if the hepatologist nurse practitioner and/or physician actually posted their notes on there but they don’t. My labs aren’t there either and my med list is all wrong. They have some of my diagnoses wrong. My disability attorney warned me medical care here is bad. And now I see. Exhausting.

I cannot get on the patient portal because my doctors employees are too busy to show me how it works. When I ask they say I am already on it but what they do not understand I do not know how to access it. Can you help me? Theresa