Radiologists seek to speed test results

Patients these days expect to get imaging test results more promptly than they did in the past – and radiologists are moving toward making that happen, researchers say.

In most medical practices, radiology teams interpret medical images but aren’t the ones who tell patients about the results. Some radiology groups across the nation are looking for ways to shorten the turnaround time for patients to hear their results, the researchers write in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

“Historically, medicine has been somewhat patriarchal. When patients interact with health care systems, medicine says we don’t tell test results until they’ve been curated by a doctor,” said Dr. Matthew Davenport of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“A paradigm shift is happening where online patient portals are becoming more common, and results are being released there,” he told Reuters Health by phone. “Patients want to see their results in a timely fashion, and we may see that embargo period begin to disappear.”

“In an ideal environment, of course, patients would want to know results instantaneously,” Davenport said. “But even if radiologists complete them in 24 hours, there’s a delay in reporting them to the patients.”

Half of the patients said they had experienced emotional changes, including minimal, mild, moderate, severe or extreme anxiety, while waiting for radiology results.

Generally, patients wanted to hear results from their doctors over the phone rather than in person.