Patients are still having a hard time understanding their radiology reports and are particularly confused about those pertaining to MRI exams, according to findings published Monday.
More healthcare organizations are giving patients access to their imaging results online via patient portals. And newly enacted federal interoperability regulations mandate providers proactively release such personal health information or face financial penalties.
But according to radiology report questions posted online to sites such as Reddit and Wiki Answers, the gap between current practice and what patients want is still a problem. In fact, more than one-quarter of the questions wanted help understanding reports, with a number of others requesting presentation changes.
Providing access to clear reports can enhance patient-radiologist interactions, decrease anxiety and facilitate care. The authors indicated creating newly designed documents must be a top priority and include a few specific features.
“From our data, patients want to improve their understanding of the report by enhancing image visualization, report representation, resources, and preference,” Mohammad Alarifi, PhD, with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee College of Health Sciences and colleagues wrote April 19 in Insights into Imaging.
The findings are based on 659 questions posted to online discussion forums. Of those, 35.5% were related to radiology reports.
Most (26.49%) were associated with comprehension, which included questions regarding explanations, unclear terms, and general confusion. Image visualization and preference both accounted for 22.64%. The latter included posts detailing the way results are offered up. Another 19.65% included report presentation comments such as format, structure, font size and other features.
Compared to other imaging modalities, most patients (32%) had problems understanding their MRI reports.
Alarifi said their results have significant implications for creating a patient-friendly report to enhance comprehension. They offered up five recommendations to achieve this goal.
- Radiologists should consider including relevant findings in the report such as blood test results and genetic history to help guide decision-making.
- Reconsidering the report to ensure its organized and reviewing the language can ensure documents are digestible.
- Including quantitative results, like dimensions and volumes, without added interpretation can add clarity.
- Offering tips and instructions can increase patient satisfaction.
- Automating report quality control may create a more user-friendly document.
Read more insights from the study here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.