Failure to Inform Patients of Abnormal Test Results

I find it actually a little shocking, I guess I'm used to good care.

My husband's and my PCP's in the same practice, send us out a hard copy of our chemistry and CBC and cholesterol results with a short note hand written at the bottom something like total cholesterol elevated at 213 but your good cholesterol is high. recommendations: continue to eat diet with lean meats, fresh vegies & fruits and limit sugar.

My pap smear results are mailed out on a form letter, stating pap smear normal, recommend recheck in 2 years (blanks for the normal/abnormal space, and for how much time before a recheck). For abnormals we're telephoned and recheck/redraw appointments are made, and we get the letters. How difficult is that??

I get a letter directly from the hospital regarding my mammogram (with a freaking bright yellow smiley face on it-how professional is that?) telling me it's normal, and to come back next year as yearly screenings are a woman's best way for early detection. I get a shower card too.

I've seen it where labs spit off the printer 2 days after the pt's been discharged from the hospital. Since the patient's been discharged, there's no established method of us telling the MD of an abnormal result -- no chart to flag, no way for us to formally interact. And since the labs like that tend to come off at 0200 with the big nightly batch job, it strictly depends on the US who pulls the lab and realizes the pt's been discharged also recognizing a dangerous lab value and bringing it to the attention of a nurse, who may or may not give a rip, since it's not our patient anymore, and some nurses say it's against HIPAA to even read it, much less alert the doc, since there's no long a nurse/pt relationship. If I see a lab come back, and it's abnormal, I try to call the doc. Sometimes, I've taped the lab (folded over, with "Attn: Dr. X" on the note") to the MD computer in their cubby.

I've also seen people where the doc knew they had cancer (esophageal, colon, not something palapable by the pt like breast ca) who were sent home without ever being told they were sick. That's a bad day to be a nurse.

I have had this happen to myself. This article was about time! Maybe its time for all patients to be treated with respect.

I think this is absurd, every patient should be notified of their labs results whether good or bad, when I go to my doctor he goes over the abnormal test results with me, if there are any, and generally we would discuss the solutions etc.. This should be a violation of patient rights.

Waaa???!! Doctors have a legal duty of care to inform patients of abnormal test results! Much less knowing they have a serious medical condition and not informing them?? I am horrified by this. It would be grounds for medical malpractice IMO. If I was the nurse in the situation, I would be elevating it to administration quite frankly. Even if the patient has been discharged, surely there's follow up with the specialist or their general practitioner who can advise them? I really don't understand this.

The poster who said they get letters in the mail re: test results - that's amazing service. In Australia when I see my general practitioner for bloods, PAP smears etc, I am advised to phoned them for results which I do, however they are legally obliged to advise me of the results one way or the other. My husband's GP practice always phones him however, within a few days.

I've seen this numerous times in my 1.5 years as a Med-Surg nurse. And the instances of doctors taking their time notifying patients of results is even more common. I might see results on a Friday, for instance, and the patient starts asking about the results that night. Of course, I can't tell them even though I know the answer to their question, and the doctor doesn't address it the next day, or maybe even the following day!! Very frustrating. I've also seen a similar situation (working on an oncology floor) of cancer spreading to other organs, and patients not being told until it's too late. Knowing you have colon cancer is one thing, but still you think a patient would want to know that it's spread to their liver! Ughhhh! Like nerdtonurse said, not a pleasant day to be a nurse.

At one hospital I worked people failed to get results of problematic test so often that they had a nurse in charge of reviewing all in patient and out patient test. Their job was to check all test and made sure docs were aware of them and notified the patient. In-patient nurses were NOT responsible for calling test results on discharged patient as that was considered a hipaa violation and was a hit and miss thing at best. They watched blood cultures very closely. Boy you had better call those blood cultures into doc in timely manner.