Congratulations to Dr. Stephen Rotholz, outstanding colleague and informaticist, who authored this paper describing our organization’s journey to deliver test results immediately, supporting information transparency.
Trouble is, sometimes the results can be life-altering, causing patient distress and anxiety. And of course, this happened on a Friday afternoon.
Our open-access article details what exactly happened, and the request from our OB/Gyn service line to with-hold test results for 3 days, and how we resolved the issue.
It was a big lesson in humility for me, and a major learning about managing change in complex environments.
I’m also hopeful that our experience informs the decisions being made by organizations around the U.S. in the age of Information Blocking / Sharing and the requirement of immediate access to results by patients.
