Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Sieving thorough information overload.

I receive a bunch of labs faxed to me everyday. Some ordered by me and some by others. Some faxes informing me of a sendout, which may take a week before the results come in. But the lab still sends me the useless fax, nevertheless. Then the patient calls and you have half the results. Call the lab and they have no idea when it may return. At the end of it after a couple of weeks there are six different .pdf faxed files each containing bits of information. And still missing a few....
How does a small office with 1-2 staff handle this insanity?

Maybe look in to the lab connection. That was a help for us because the labs are downloaded in to the chart as they come in and all get filed under the date they were drawn. That really cut down our scan pile and ended the duplicate lab issue. The only downside is our lab system doesn't always tell us if there is still something pending, so it just shows up when it is completed. That means you may en up signing of on patient X's labs a couple of times depending on how often you check.

Mine does not download the full labs until all the pendings on one accession is done - my ones that are a week sendout are put on a separate accession - I get all my basic labs the next day and then the sendouts come later. It is great - I look at them, jot a letter to pt. or a note to staff and move on. I personally have a lab letter I send to pt - only takes a minute or two for each pt. and there is no paper.

Steven,
What is your lab letter?

I have a template with a place to put various lab results,eg glucose, kidney and liver function, cholesterol as well as a paragraph about dietary info, etc. and just fill out the letter and hit print/save to chart. I find trying to call pt. with results never works - they aren't home or want to talk about other things.

First you need a lab interface so that labs that you order are downloaded into the chart. Now, when you review the lab, you can put a note on the last page of the lab with any pertinent information. Now get one of those patient portals/secure messageing setups. Tell patients they should send you a request for lab results, and you will send it to them. You can also just automatically send it to them--tell them to check in about 2 weeks to be sure to give it long enough for the lab to send it, you review it and your staff to post it. Anyone who insists on not playing ball must come in for a lab review appt. Dont review on the phone. Now, when other doctors send you labs, just scan it into the chart. Oh, and only download completed labs, not partials. The lab will call you if there is a dangerous abnormality.