December 2015 Moms

Don't like..

I don't like the way my doctor's office handles test results. At this point I've had a plethora of tests done between the pap smear, blood work, urine samples, etc etc, and at 17 weeks I've never heard a peep from my doc about any of the results, not even an e-mail or letter, phone call, nothing. After the down syndrome test I was patient and waited nearly 2 weeks for results and still nothing. Finally I called to ask and the phone person pulled up my records and was like, "oh, ummm, I'm going to have to have a nurse contact you about the results." So of course I'm in panic mode all day thinking I might have a baby with down syndrome or some other issue. The nurse doesn't call back till hours later when I don't have my phone on me and leaves a message saying everything looks good and great and negative for everything so phew. That's great news, but why couldn't the first person tell me that? At my appointment I asked them why they don't bother contacting me with results and they said their policy is that for privacy reasons if I ever want to know the results of any tests I have to call in and ask for them....To me that's just annoying, really...you can't just mail me something? Bleh, sorry for my little rant. 

Re: Don't like..

  • It's annoying, I think that their policy is no news is good news. My Dr did call me after one test and just said your AFP test was normal, goodbye. I have no idea what that test is, it would be nice if they could give me more than 2 minutes of their time to explain things.
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  • That would be extremely aggravating. My genetic counselor called me on a Sunday night to give us the positive results for my daughters Turner Syndrome. This pregnancy, she called first thing on a Monday morning to give us the negative report. I would flip my stuff if someone didn't let me know what was going on during my pregnancy. Small things like UTI (I can normally tell when I have one), then yeah... follow the rule of "no news is good news". Sorry you are feeling uninformed and maybe you can explain to them that any further testing, you would like to be in the loop about, and they will listen.
  • My office has the no news is good news policy. I'm ok with that. I'm doing an AFP blood draw on the 13th and I hope I don't hear from them. I'm glad you're tests turned out well.
  • That sucks I'm so sorry. At my old ob they had an amazing system called patient portal it's an app you can send refill requests any questions you have at all manage your appointments and as soon as your test results are back they send you a message to show you the results. I loved it. Then I had to move to be closer to my family, and now I have not a bad ob I'm sure they are very nice next appt is on the 13th but they are not as new age and I have to call about everything and they always have to "get back to me" which makes me so angry.

    Goodluck though miss!
  • taysuntaysun member
    My office also has a no news is good news policy. They will only call if there's something wrong. So usually if I haven't heard in a week I assume everything looks good
  • LMJLLMJL member
    My ob is similar & it's so frustrating! For any test they always perform they will call if something is bad, send a letter if it's normal. Generally. I had a slew of extra genetic tests done & never heard back either way, this was 4 weeks ago, so no news, good news right? The harmony test (NIPT) they always call, they said. But my Tay Sachs came back as intermediate, which means I could be a carrier, so my husband was tested. They said 10 days, then two weeks, it's been over 3 weeks now & I'm losing my gourd! I know that's the lab's fault & not my ob, but I don't care! I want my results!!!
  • CMDDCMDD member
    I think most are like this. Mine is a county clinic so I also go to to the online portal to get test results.
  • Mine's like this. Granted, it's a clinic with four obstetricians and way too many patients. But still, I understand how you feel.

    I had tons of blood work and tests done because I was on a class c or x drug (I don't remember which) until I found out at about 8 weeks. I'm almost 18 weeks now and still haven't heard a thing about the results. The only reason why I'm not flipping out is because the NT screen was 2 mm and we were at the fetal assessment/treatment clinic at the IWK, so they would have told me if something was up.
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • My dr doesn't give me updates unless something alarming shows up. He will, however, mention the results at the following appointment. I know the wait is stressful, but as PPs said... no news is good news.
  • My doctor's policy is always "no news is good news." They have a lot of patients and they can't spend all day every day calling each one saying "your urine is normal!"
  • My doctor's office is also "no news is good news." I think this would have frustrated me, but when I had an ectopic pregnancy several years ago, which ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery for, my doctor (who has a very busy practice) called me personally several times to discuss things. It helps me to know that I will get the attention I want/need if there is something really serious going on.
  • It is annoying! My office does the same thing.... If everything is normal they just don't call :(
  • It is soooo nice that many offices use online portals like MyChart so you can see results, e-mail doctor, etc. I wish your office had this! I think if it's the general testing, they don't call but my experience has been that if I did any specialty testing, they call me with the results (even when good news)

    Either way, it would be nice if they would tell you in your first appointment that that's their policy.
  • I have had several no news is good news doctors. They conveniently forgot to tell me I had GDM for 4 weeks. I don't trust the policy anymore and will bug the crap out of the until I have an answer.
  • At my office, the routine stuff is no news is good news, and the important/fun/milestone stuff is a call back. But my MFM is a very hands in kind of guy, and calls us sometimes himself. Usually they tell us which it will be.
  • I guess it makes me feel better that this seems to be normal, although it is still aggravating. They never let me know this, which I guess the reason I was so surprised was because for pre pregnancy pap smears I would always get the tests mailed to me, even though they just said everything looks normal blah blah.. It's strange that for pregnancy they can't show the same courtesy but awh well. I'll have to mention that portal thing to them next time because that sounds like something that would be really great to have. 
  • I think most offices have a no news good news policy. Mine calls either way which is nice
  • That is nice. I feel like if anyone takes my bodily fluids or looks in my vag the least they could do is call afterwards.....  ;) 
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