The Importance Of Following Up Abnormal Test Results

Following up on test results is an important action, especially when the results are abnormal. Not following up on results can result in a delay in diagnosis and treatment.

The process is a shared responsibility with all of the clinicians involved however the onus to follow up ultimately falls on the requesting clinician.

There are a number of reasons why test results are not followed up on, such as the requesting clinician not tracking the tests to ensure they were carried out and checking the results. As well as this, there could be a lack of communication whereby the laboratories fail to inform the clinician that the test results are now available. This process is challenging since there can be multiple care providers such as GP and specialist services. The results should therefore be communicated to all care providers so that each clinician has the same information. Finally, as results are usually uploaded to an electronic system there can be issues with the system failing to send the results to either the clinicians or the patient themselves.

If the test results are found to be abnormal and this is not communicated to the clinician or the patient, this could deny the patient the opportunity to undergo further investigations to allow a possible diagnosis. This subsequently could delay treatment and allow the problem to progress and thus affecting prognosis.

It is therefore vitally important that once the patient is referred for tests that the referring clinician follows up with these tests so that the results are checked, and any further action is commenced. As well as this the clinician carrying out the test should ensure that the tests are carried out in a timely manner and that once the test results are available to notify the ordering clinician that requested the tests. It is also important that the results are correctly documented so that they can be easily accessed by all the clinicians involved in the patient’s care.

Whilst the ordering clinician is ultimately responsible for tracking the test results, to help avoid this issue from occurring Trusts should ensure that their policies are kept up to date and implemented with regards to communicating abnormal results to both clinicians and patients, to ensure that patients receive timely and appropriate care.