PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nuñez-Argote, Letycia
AU  - Veazey Brooks, Joanna
TI  - Challenges and Opportunities for the Medical Laboratory in the Era of Direct Patient Access to Test Results
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.2021003164
DP  - 2024 Aug 21
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2024/09/09/ascls.2021003164.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2024/09/09/ascls.2021003164.full
AB  - Providing patients access to their health records promises to improve patient safety. However, there are concerns that clinical laboratory test results are not optimized for patient interaction through web portals. We asked medical laboratory professionals (MLPs) about the current state of direct patient access (DPA) to electronic health records to assess their knowledge and attitudes on how this may affect laboratory practice. Data were collected through interviews with MLPs working in clinical laboratories in the United States (n = 15), which were analyzed following a grounded theory qualitative approach. We found that MLPs’ perspectives on DPA were informed by the area of the laboratory where they worked and by perceptions about patients’ understanding of test results. Knowledge and attitudes differed based on test type, laboratory process, and laboratory setting. While respondents agreed that web portals could support patient self-advocacy, they cautioned that test information could be misconstrued by patients who see values without the guidance of a clinician. The level of MLPs’ interactions with patients varied, but they all agreed that communicating results to patients was outside their scope of practice. Additional efforts must be directed at empowering the laboratory workforce to share pertinent medical information adequately and effectively to patients.