WHEN HAVING LABS DONE
Your lab results will come back into your electronic (EMR) chart. Dr. McWilliams, Ginger, or Jennifer will review the labs and post the results to the portal with notes. You can click on the result to open the notes they added that explain the results. Sometimes they will put a question or a recommendation in there so it is important that you check these; you can answer or respond within the portal. We do our best to utilize the portal in order to keep phone lines open and prevent the need for redundant follow up visits. Follow up office visits are not needed simply to notify someone that all of their labs are “normal“. We ask that you do make sure you know how to log in and use your portal. One of the staff can help you set up or “reset” your portal if needed.
Abnormal labs are flagged by the lab company and those are reviewed first, usually within one business day, if they come back that quickly. If it takes several days for your lab result to post to the portal it is either because it is normal or it was a “send out” lab that may take up to 1 week to come back. We try to alert you when you have your blood drawn, if we get the chance, if any of your labs will take a longer time to come back.
Sometimes an abnormal lab will prompt the Doctor or Nurse Practitioner to ask you to schedule a follow-up visit to discuss the results This only happens when it is necessary in order to adhere to standards of medical practice, if it will require a detailed discussion to resolve questions, or if the results are of a serious nature. In instances when a follow-up visit is necessary, you should receive a phone call in addition to a portal notification of resulted labs. Please understand that we care for all of our patients and your time and finances are taken into account in our decision making. Therefore, when we ask you to follow up to discuss something, we have taken those things into account and determined that it is important enough to make the request.
The portal is not a tool to be used to evaluate symptoms, make diagnoses and manage disease processes in place of a proper interview and physical exam. We keep this in mind when making our comments and answering your questions and ask that you do the same.
Respectfully,
Dr. Jeremy McWilliams / Ginger McMillian, FNP / Jennifer Ligon-Gaston, FNP
