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I hate digital health care.

47 Comments

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I fondly remember the days when doctors took the time to call patients with their test results and explain the outcome.

Today? They send you a link to a digital portal and you’re on your own.

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These numbers were accompanied by a warning that I might be seeing them before the doctor… and I should wait for instructions.

Which I did, for 4 days. No word, so I logged back onto the site and found a short note saying my primary physician had sent in a prescription for a potassium supplement.

No explanation, just that.

The next day I got an email telling me to log in for more results.

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I liked this number even less.

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It accompanied these numbers, so clearly something is going on. Not that I’d know what, because no one tells me anything and I’ll probably have to wait another four days to get a second cryptic note on the portal.

🥴

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47 thoughts on “I hate digital health care.”

  5. The medical establishment is overwhelmed, and yes there is the blood-sucking insurance industry. That said, I love the patient portal system. I’ve sent questions through the portal and either received an answer within 24 hours or a call from their assistant. Granted I only have blood work done once a year prior to a visit so I can discuss the results with the doctor. There are also tele-visits for things that don’t require a physical visit. I live in a fairly urban area so there are more doctors than probably where you live and still it can take months to get an appointment.

    Doctors used to hate when people consulted Dr. Google but mine seem to encourage it and often give me links or actually print out articles that explain – saves them time I guess.

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    1. That’s the funny thing about this place, I never have trouble making an appointment. They always see me very quickly, not that I go very often. This is the first time I’ve had issues.

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  6. My mom was sent a number of electronic intake forms for a specialist at a new clinic. She’s 81. Although she’s capable of handling electronic admin, this was a new place and she was all confused. They sent her four emails in one day, two which were duplicates I think, because she didn’t respond to immediately. She forwarded them to me and asked if they were legit.

    Everything is electronic. There appears to be no choice. You have to do it that way. It’s kind of bothersome…

    We are in a position here in Canada and with my partner’s employment that we have access through his benefits Insurance to holistic practitioners. We have decided some time ago to combine holistic with traditional medicine. The holistic treatment is night and day. The appointments are minimum half an hour, and there’s real dialogue. They ask for the traditional medicine test results and provide a more in-depth analysis and feedback. It’s been eye-opening and we appreciate that we are in a position where we can combine both sides.

    I will say this: the traditional medicine side is still not very open to holistic medicine, but some of the younger doctors are a little bit more receptive than the older doctors. On the other side, the holistic practitioners (naturopath, osteopath, etc) have been much more open-minded about combining traditional with holistic practices and leave the choices completely up to the patients. This has been our experience and it has been positive a experience. I see a shift happening where more and more patients are reaching a point with the traditional side of medicine where they no longer feel satisfied with the service they get. And they are not necessarily abandoning but at least pursuing alternate methods. In some cases it’s a positive change (like it was for us) and in some cases it’s taking a little bit of adapting and getting used to new ways of thinking.

    Food for thought? I really hope you get the answers you desire and deserve. It is a very frustrating situation to be dealing with.

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      1. Believe me, I understand. And you don’t always want to make a new appointment because it might waste their time (and yours plus your bank account). Worst yet is when you find out insane things- like you went into sepsis- and nobody told you about it 😅 they like covering stuff up too!

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  8. I will Google each result to try and understand what they mean, then send a note to my doctor. Sometimes I gain understanding that way, and sometimes I have to wait to see the doc in person.

    Half the time, the ‘out of range’ results don’t concern the doctor at all.

    It’s faster to get the results than waiting for an appointment to see them, but not always better.

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  9. I have to agree, patient electronic portals are a nightmare! Although my physicians usually call me when I’ve had bloodwork done to discuss the results. But I have to make an appointment for them to call me and I have to pay a co-pay for that appointment. Talk about blood-sucking insurance practices. I’m sorry to hear your having not only health issues, but issues with getting a straight answer from your doctors on the results of your bloodwork. It shouldn’t be this freaking hard to have a person call you back and tell you what’s wrong with you.

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      1. You know what they say, no news is good news, lol. And I suppose it’s cold to pay a co-pay for a return phone call. But it’s the same thing as having to make an appointment to go to the doctors office physically to get the results. Only I don’t have to take time from work and drive to a completely different part of town either. So, I suppose it evens out.

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  10. I actually like patient portals, because I get the results and then do internet searches and figure out if weird numbers mean anything faster than a doctor has ever gotten back to me. I think there’s only been one time when I’ve had something so rare it was hard to figure out what the prognosis was. But, yeah, ideally one would get a timely response with the test results from a physician. However, it’s nice to be able to double-check their findings–I have a close friend who had a weird protein result that her doctor disregarded. Combined with her fatigue and other symptoms, my friend correctly diagnosed her own multiple myeloma.

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  12. My portal explains nothing — neither did my parents. My dad’s first bone scan came in, and my mom googled his result. Bad idea. They really shouldn’t dump that on the patient before a doctor explains what it means.

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  14. I hope the doctor gives you a better explanation! I went to a new primary doctor, the first one I’ve had since moving here four years ago. I had to face the portal thing and got worked up over numbers. Th next day she said everything was normal and nothing to worry about.

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  15. Sooo… infection (high lymphocyctes).. but what kind?!?

    I now automatically voice google “blood tests high xxxx” or “low xxx” to self diagnose!!

    I hope someone decides to call you. Potassium only treats low potassium! My mother used to take so much that ths parmacist refused to fill her scrip because he thought it was an error. Nope, she just didn’t absorb pitassium correctly and took something like 100x the normal dose!

    Good luck!!

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  16. The VA makes them available to me digitally in my account, but then the Doctor calls me on Friday afternoon to discuss the results, answer any questions, and talk about treatment changes. She usually gives me about an hour on the phone and makes no attempts to hurry the call. This setup works for me.

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