r/emergencymedicine • u/Princessgargoyle ED Attending • 13d ago

Advice Patients interpreting their own portal results

Attending physician new to practicing in a more affluent area. How are you all dealing with patients asking for explanations for each out-of-range lab result that popped up in their patient portal?

I’m finding this aspect of my new site to be very frustrating and time consuming to have to convince the patient why the google interpretation of their isolated eosinophilia or glucose of 100 does not align with my “Great news! Everything looks good!”

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u/babiekittin 13d ago

"Some lab results may be put of range for what is considered "normal" due to a myriad of factors. Given your labs' slight elevation/depression outside of normal range, I would recommend we continue to monitor over the next year. I would propose you return for repeat labs in XX months."

Also, these seem to be my patients who will fix their diabetes using TikTok.

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u/Princessgargoyle ED Attending 13d ago

This is a very kind and non-dismissive response, but I definitely won’t be inviting them back to the emergency department for a year of monitoring. I’m thinking that explaining that some labs are not applicable to their complaint/the emergency setting is the best way and deferring any further discussion to their PCP.

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u/MarginalLlama Paramedic 13d ago

Idk, the ED I work in, has an appointment for me every weekend. 😉