Does Your Veterinarian Give Better Service Than Your Physician?

Many people may think so. When they’ve been to the doctor and had a lab test or X-ray, they don’t always get a report of the results in a timely fashion. And this can sometimes be a cause of worry. My veterinarian, on the other hand, always calls us on the day of the test and gives us the dog’s results – positive or negative. That’s what I call great service.

Too many doctors fail to provide this important information. A study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed some disturbing findings. US researchers examined primary medical care records of some 5400 patients aged 50 to 69, looking at 11 specific blood tests and 3 screening tests. They also surveyed physicians at the practices with uninformed patients about their methods for handling test results.

There were 1900 clinically significant abnormal results; 6% of these were not communicated to the patient, while 1% were communicated but this was not documented. Practices with partial electronic medical records had the highest failure rates, whereas those with either full electronic records or only paper records both had fewer rates. In fact, most practices didn’t have a standardized system for managing test results.

The researchers suggest that 5 simple procedures could be combined to provide to eliminate most errors: test results go to the responsible doctor; the doctor signs off on them; the office informs the patients of all results; the office documents that patients have been informed; finally, patients are told to call after a given time if they haven’t received test results.

This study shows that patients shouldn’t assume that “no news is good news”. If necessary, ask your doctor whether they have a routine for telling patients their test results; this may just stimulate them to emulate my veterinarian’s practice.