Tip #2: Adding test results to your Keyose
Friday, December 21st, 2007Our users are constantly suggesting improvements or new ways of using Keyose. Some of them ask to be able to add some test’s results in their Personal Health Record (as X-rays, CTs, blood analysis, densitometries and so on).
We are working hardly so in short time you can upload images to your Keyose profiles, but in the meantime we would like to help you to improve your PHR.
The first advise is crucial. And it is something I use to recommend to my own patients: take into account that in medicine more information is not equal to better healthcare. In an emergency setting your doctor needs the most important information, because time is critical.
So don’t upload all that huge amount of reports and tests you have been storing during the last 20 years. Take your time to select and resume the most relevant informtion (and most updated one). Talk with your most trusted doctor if you need, so he helps you deciding which information is more important. The time you invest in obtaining a good selection will be well used time.
Once you have selected the tests to be added, and until the keyose’s service for uploading images is available, the next step is to find the reports of those tests.
A MRI or TC comes with a little report from the radiologists that have studied the test, where the findings are descripbed in words. If a X-ray or electrocardigraphy was done by your doctor the findings are often described in the medical report.
Even is not always needed to include all the text in the radiologist’s report, but just the section titled: “Conclusion: No pathological findings.” or similar.
In the case of blood testing the same is applied. In general it is not needed to copy all the values within the normal ranges, but only those that are out of range (usually marked with a star-asterisk). For instance, if you have a test with hemogram, blood biochemical parameters and urine analysis and all the values ar normal but a high cholerestol (300 mg/dL for example) you can summarize that information in a way like this:
Analytic October 6, 2006: Cholesterol 300 mg/dL, hemogram normal, urine normal, biochemical normal.
This will help much more your doctor as he can go directly to the significant results.
As you have selected the significant tests and have summarized them we recommend you to add them at section “Personal History”. Add them just below the list of your main diseases.
The order is the key point. The better way to organize the information is by grouping by type of test (x-rays, blood tests, MRI …) and next by inverse chronologic order (it means the last tests in first place).
Following those simple advices you will get a efficient and useful Personal Health Record!
Here is an example of how to do it:
Personal history Hypercholesterolemia under treatment with statins (1999) Acute myocardial infarctation required stent (2001) Chronic bronchitis under treatment with inhalated medication (2004) —- X-Rays: 03/02/07: Chest X-Ray: Vascular redistribution (cephalization).
20/05/06: Chest X-Ray: Normal. Blood tests: 05/08/07: Total Cholesterol 180, HDL 20. Hemogram normal, biochemicals normal, urine normal. PSA normal.
05/06/99: Total Cholesterol 320, HDL 15. Hemogram normal, biochemicals normal.