RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Patient Preferences for Receiving Reports of Test Results
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 759
OP 766
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2015.06.150030
VO 28
IS 6
A1 Jeannine R. LaRocque
A1 Christina L. Davis
A1 Tina P. Tan
A1 Frank J. D'Amico
A1 Daniel J. Merenstein
YR 2015
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/28/6/759.abstract
AB Introduction: The general public's preferences for modes of communication (other than in-person communication) for medical test results were investigated. We hypothesized that patients would prefer a variety of methods to receive common tests results (blood cholesterol and colonoscopy) compared with genetics test results.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey.Results: A total of 409 participants responded to the survey. Among these participants, ≥50% reported that they were comfortable receiving results for a blood cholesterol test or colonoscopy via 4 of the 7 non–in-person communication methods (password-protected website, personal voicemail, personal E-mail, and letter were preferred over home voicemail, fax, and mobile phone text message). In comparison, >50% of participants were comfortable with only 1 non–in-person communication method for non-HIV sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and none for genetic tests. Patients were least comfortable receiving any information via fax, regardless of test type. There were statistical differences among comfort levels for blood cholesterol and colonoscopy tests and both STIs and genetic testing for personal voicemail, personal E-mail, mobile phone text message, and password-protected website, but there were no differences between STIs and genetic testing. No correlation was found between “familiarity” with test and “comfort” of receiving information about specific test.Conclusions: Participants demonstrated preferences in how they received test results by non–in-person communication methods, preferring personal E-mail and password-protected websites, but did not prefer fax. Importantly, participants also demonstrated that preference was dependent on test type.