In 2011, the University of Michigan adopted a patient portal that enabled patients to view their full radiology reports online and also send questions electronically to their providers. In an informatics-focused quality control project for the radiology department, the researchers sought to analyze the types of radiology-related questions that were being asked by patients via the portal's electronic message system.
They also wanted to see if they could identify practice gaps and devise ways to pre-emptively solve problems, according to presenter Dr. Benjamin Mervak.
"In doing so, we could save time for patients, clinicians, and ourselves, and generally provide a better experience for patients as they visit our center for imaging," Mervak told AuntMinnie.com.
The findings provide strong evidence that patients value their imaging procedures and believe that the results matter to their health, he said. Patients were very interested in receiving their imaging results in a timely fashion; approximately one-third of patients inquired as to when their results would be available.
Other common questions involved not understanding part of the radiology report (11%) and wanting to know "the next best step" (12%), Mervak reported.
For the rest of the details, stop by this poster presentation in the early afternoon on Monday.
