When it comes to understanding laboratory results, such portals are of little to no help, says a new study from Baylor College of Medicine.

Hospitals and health systems want patients to use digital portals. But when it comes to understanding laboratory results, such portals are of little to no help, says a new study from Baylor College of Medicine.

To find out if digital portals were delivering quality information to patients regarding lab tests and results, Baylor researchers conducted what they note were “extensive” individual interviews with 95 patients at four large Houston clinics.

The way information is being presented to patients in portals makes it hard for them to understand the results.

The study found that 63% of patients did not receive any explanatory information or test result interpretation at the time they received their results while 46% conducted online searches for further information about their result.

56% of patients who received an abnormal result were more likely to experience negative emotions and more likely to call their physician compared with those who received normal results, according to the study.

About half of the survey participants searched online to figure out what their test result meant both in terms of language and what it meant for their health, says Dr. Traber Davis Giardina, Baylor assistant professor of medicine and the study’s main researcher.

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“Clearly when patients use a portal to check test results, they have feelings of uncertainty even when results are normal,” Giardina says. “That may be because the way information is being presented to patients in portals makes it hard for them to understand the results and how each result relates to their health.”

Among the study’s key findings:

  • There are no national test result notification and interface design standards or guidelines for patient portals.
  • Patient portals lack interoperability and consistency in features and design across providers, which can frustrate patients and limit their use of online information sites.
  • Only 15% to 30% of patients electronically access their health information.
  • Most patients (89.5%) indicated that their physician explained why the test was being ordered.
  • 5% of patients reported that their physician told them to check their portal for the result.
  • 2% of the participants reported that their physician did not include a note or interpretation explaining the result.
  • Over half of participants with abnormal results (55.8%) experienced negative emotions, including confusion, concern, anxiety, fear, or frustration, when viewing the result.

“While 94% of hospitals and 77% of healthcare providers routinely offer access to laboratory results, less than one-third of patients access this information,” the Baylor study says.

In addition to researching how and why patients were using portals to access and interpret lab results, the study also included some recommendations for how providers can deploy more meaningful features and functions. Those recommendations include developing national implementation standards andmaking sure patients have desktop and mobile access to medical tests results and interpretations, among others.

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“This analysis is quite timely because patients currently have unprecedented access to their health information, including their test results, and we must ensure that data is meaningful and useful for them,” Giardina says.

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