Love hate relationship with Dr. Google/Patient Portals

[nw6675]

I love patient portals to see my records, lab reports, correspond with staff, etc. I also appreciate the law that requires lab reports to post quickly to the patient.

That being said - I just got my pathology reports back in the portal from some procedures. There was one issue that I have Dr. Googled all afternoon. According to him or her, I will be dead before I finish typing LOL.

To make matters worse, my doctor called me himself soon after sounding worried. Murphy's law he got a hospital call and had to hang up. He just quickly asked how soon I see the surgeon which is actually for a different finding. No clue if he's calling back.

Just wanted to commiserate with others who have also been killed off by Dr. Google and Mr. Murphy! I'm not a patient person and now am stressed waiting for the layman's interpretation!! I don't know if I'm glad I've seen it or not.

 

[Christine]

I get it. I *LOVE* the patient portals with results. I consider myself a pretty good amateur diagnostician so that helps--my friends even call me to help read their MRI results. But the internet can be scary and I find it overall to be reporting doomsday when it often is not. Hang in there, I know it's a horrible feeling.

 

[Turn the Page]

I like patient portals...in theory. The issue I have is that every one of my providers use a different portal. I'm not signing up for 4 different portals.

I may sign up for one with my primary provider but I think I will pass on the one for the opthomologist.

 

[DVCjj]

Love patient portals unless each has changed portal companies numerous times.
Drives me crazy.

 

[nw6675]

I agree on the different portals. Even the ones that use the same aren't always synced.

I love an office where they don't ignore the messages. I recently read an article that stated more providers will start charging for portal conversations. I have a provider who told me to text her so I don't get charged. She's the one telling me to message, not just me trying to get out of an office visit.

 

[nw6675]

I get it. I *LOVE* the patient portals with results. I consider myself a pretty good amateur diagnostician so that helps--my friends even call me to help read their MRI results. But the internet can be scary and I find it overall to be reporting doomsday when it often is not. Hang in there, I know it's a horrible feeling.

Me, too, on the diagnostician piece. I worked in healthcare compliance for 25 years so it is normally natural for me. This one has me stumped, but I'm not going to worry for now until he tells me. Well, will try not to lol.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Sorry you have to wait, @eksmama01

 

[tvguy]

I like patient portals...in theory. The issue I have is that every one of my providers use a different portal. I'm not signing up for 4 different portals.

I may sign up for one with my primary provider but I think I will pass on the one for the opthomologist.

I guess I'm lucky. My portal has an option to share/retrieve my information from other portals with my portal. So everything is in my portal. I got some vaccines from CVS and their information also can be shared/retrieved
It is nice to get the results as soon as my Doctor does. The video chat feature is nice too, only used it once so for. But I have two other specialists who I now have video appointments with in the coming months. Both those Doctors say there is no need for me to come into the office.

 

[RogueX]

I love the portals and being able to see my test results quickly. I'm fairly curious anyways, so I read the notes from procedures and surgeries, which can raise some interesting findings. A colonoscopy revealed I have a redundant colon and an endoscopy revealed something odd with esophagus. I pointed out to the GI doctor that means when I'm feeling sick I can tell them I'm sick and twisted. She appreciated the humor.

 

[john7994]

I do like them for the speed of results, prescription management (for refills in particular), and reminders for upcoming appointments.

As someone else mentioned, reading the notes on the procedures are interesting - if not a little scary out of context - leading to much anxiety until I had a chance to ask my surgeon about it - and he seemed surprised that I had access to this information. As it turned out, it was something that I needed to be aware of for my long-term health needs, and likely something they explained to me post-op, but I didn't remember it.

 

[jo-jo]

Agree with the scary stuff. My DH saw some numbers and thought he had kidney issues. (His Dad did) Turned out to be arthritis in the spine. The off numbers was just something that happens with age.

 

[disneychrista]

I had an pelvic ultrasound a few years ago because on physical exam my uterus was enlarged. When I read the findings and searched what it could mean I was convinced at the very least would need a hysterectomy but likely had cancer. They did end up doing an endometrial biopsy and everything came back clean. No cancer and I still have my uterus.

 

[nw6675]

Portal win! Messaged my doc to follow up since he had to hang up yesterday. He responded back directly. I'm not dead and no change to treatment plan. Ha!

So much better than calling and leaving messages. Although I must say that this office is the most efficient one I've ever been to!

 

[barkley]

my primary issue with patient portal systems, which i've shared every time i get a survey from my medical group is-if you have multiple household members with the same medical group let alone the same provider the portal insists on each using an individual email address to access the portal. i get that everyone needs their own user i.d., password and such for security but if your are a household where one person manages the calendar, handles the insurance claims, pays the bills...it makes it near impossible to coordinate.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I have absolutely no patience, so I have the same love-hate relationship that you do. I appreciate being able to quickly see my results and begin researching values outside of the norm. I had about 6 months of testing to identify the source of some symptoms (ended up being lymphoma) so I'm fully aware of everything that can go wrong on the Dr. Google rabbit hole. So many things are probably nothing but possibly fatal!

That said, I much preferred getting my PET scan results right away and just googling what a Deauville score was, rather than waiting 3 more days for an in person appointment to be given my results. If I wanted to wait for the full explanation from the doc, I'd just uninstall the app so I didn't know when results posted.