Over the years there has been a push to allow more patient access to their records. Patients in our system that have signed up for MyChart with our electronic medical record Epic, can see most of their test results shortly after they are back, even if not yet reviewed by the physician who ordered them.
To avoid patients misinterpreting or reacting badly to the results, certain tests, such as HIV and pathology, are not automatically released. Although releasing the results automatically acts as a safeguard for abnormal results that may have been missed by the physician, it also opens the possibility of patients inappropriately acting on the results.
I’ve had patients make changes in their medications after seeing their results, and without even discussing it with me until their next visit. One patient who saw that his sleep study showed he had sleep apnea, borrowed a friends extra CPAP machine, adjusted the settings based on his research on the internet, then tried it out for 2 weeks!
As the saying goes, a little knowledge can be dangerous. Patients should use the information in their charts to inform them, and help ask educated questions, but not to replace their physician. There is often a lot more to making a diagnosis and deciding on a treatment than just looking at test results.
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