Have you ever wondered how people with language and literacy barriers, time management problems, or a lack of sheer determination ever manage to make appointments and follow doctors’ instructions? I was recently referred to a specialist, whose office sent me a hefty package of information and “chores” to perform in advance of the appointment. One of the chores was to bring copies of any lab tests, x-rays, etc. that had been done in the previous year. Is this a simple request? Apparently not. In our fragmented health care system, one is sent all over the place to separate offices for each annual screening exam, for lab tests, etc. You can try to track down the phone numbers of the various places you have been, and then you can work your way through the automated phone tree (“press one if you wish you could speak to an actual person”). Then you ask for copies of your own medical records, which you should be able to access. You have to appear at a particular place between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM (when you are at work) to sign a form, or perhaps you will be allowed to fax in your request, or perhaps they will insist that your referring doctor must request the records to be sent directly to your specialist because they would rather you didn’t handle your own records yourself. Every office has a different story.
How many doctors have told patients to go get some sort of screening exam without writing down the name of the exam or telling the patient where they have to get the exam or reminding the patient to call first and find out if they take his or her insurance? As a consumer health librarian, I can help someone understand what a mammogram or a colonoscopy is, and I can help the patient locate providers in the area who provide that exam, but so many people have no clue, and they don’t ask the librarian, either. I suspect that oftentimes, they just don’t know how to proceed, so they don’t get the exam.
Tags: appointments, consumer health librarians, medical records
