Patients who received test results from physicians who use automated management systems were more satisfied than patients with physicians who did not use the systems, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Healthcare IT News reports.
The study, published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the systems significantly increased patient satisfaction with test results communication. Patients also were more satisfied with the information they received for treatments and conditions associated with their results, Healthcare IT News reports.
Researchers surveyed 570 patients who visited 26 ambulatory clinics that adopted Results Manager, an automated test results system embedded in an electronic health record system. Patients were surveyed before and after the system was adopted, as well as at clinics that did not adopt the system.
The Results Manager system provides physicians with a continually updated summary page of patient information, including:
- Date of visit when test was ordered;
- Test result type; and
- Whether results are abnormal or critical.
The system also allows doctors to generate patient notification letters, phone discussions, e-mail, as well as view lab result details and verify that a provider has viewed results.
"The system provides workflow improvements, basic interpretations of results for patients and a template for sending patients their test results [that] ... facilitate better communication between patient and physician," Eric Poon, lead author of the study and a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said.
The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Library of Medicine (Monegain,
Healthcare IT News, 11/12).