While attending my first diabetes support group meeting, the topic of medical records came up. The group co-ordinator states that it was a good idea, and permissable, to obtain a copy of ones blood work. This record should contain your A1C, info. on your kindey functions, etc. I plan on requesting mine from my doctor. Do you normally request yours? Has anyone had any trouble getting theirs? Any suggestions on what to do if the Keeper of the Medical Records offers resistance?
At the hospital where I get my labs drawn, I have to go to the medical records department and fill out a form, then they give me complete copies of my test results when they are available. I do this any time I have labs drawn.
In the past, I didn’t, and it turned out that after the hospital changed computers or something, and my old lab results were gone! I’d changed doctors and the old doctor-which I left because their staff was so disorganized–didn’t apparently send over all my test results when I asked my records to be transferred, either. And now they appear to be in some deep canyon on Mars, or where ever it is that the old doctor puts records that they don’t need anymore.
So yes, it is a good idea to get copies of all your labs, for reference purposes. They could end up having value long into the future.
Of course - my PCP who diagnosed me was happy to give me all of my test results and my endo prints out a lovely letter at the end of each visit documenting me what my test results were. If you don’t have a copy, I highly suggest you get copies of everything since diagnosis. It is very nice to see all of those results and spend time online looking for “normal” to see if you fit it. Helps if you end up changing docs, too.
I’ve had no trouble getting mine but then again I’ve had the same Dr for 23 years and he knows what I want and also knows that I have to go to other Drs and they need a copy of them. His office sends me a copy even if I get my A1C cheaked so I can use them with any other Dr.
Like Jenny, I get mine directly from the hospital record department as soon as the lab results come in. That way, I don’t have to wait for the next appointment with my doctor. I have to say, she was a bit surprised, and a tad disapproving when I turned up at the appointment already knowing the diagnosis (LADA) after my antibody tests. I got the results a couple of days before she did!
I get copies every time I have any type of test done. It is always a good thing to do this especially if you have a test that you do not have yearly and perhaps that provider shuts down or destroys your records.
All of my providers for the last 10 years have been in the same clinic system, so my stuff can be accessed by whoever I go to (provided, of course, they know how to run the computer).
Lab results are always sent to my home in the mail. I could put them on a central Excel spreadsheet, but I’ve always logged them by hand in an old-fashioned accountants ledger book. (Call me “set in my ways”.)
Keeping your own copies is absolutely essential.
I had a recent situation with my elderly mother, who lives in a small town in central Minnesota. She was hospitalized in a larger town about 40 miles away. When we went to bring her home, I took her to the records office to complete the form and have all of her hospital info sent to her hometowm doc. Well, he still does not have them, and, what’s worse, doesn’t seem interested - even though she was put on two new meds for emphysema. However, I don’t think this was a issue of releasing the information - just moreso a bunch of careless clerical errors.
My doctor sends me my results of my blood work since I’ve been going to him… So every three months he send me a letter that has my results of my A1C and everything else… I have no problem getting them…