In my oncology training, there has been nothing more frustrating — or frightening — than a patient’s ability to automatically receive a patholog

Alumni News Essay: Between the Airlock Doors

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2024-05-10 20:00:07

In my oncology training, there has been nothing more frustrating — or frightening — than a patient’s ability to automatically receive a pathology report. The 21st Century Cures Act, a 2016 federal law that was recently implemented in full in the hospital where I work, requires all medical information to be provided directly to patients expeditiously, whether it be blood tests, imaging reports, or doctor’s notes. This often creates awkward moments when a patient sitting in a clinic can report her own hemoglobin and creatinine even before I’ve had a chance to review them. But the automatic population of pathology reports is more troublesome than mild anemia. That a diagnosis of new cancer or returning cancer can come at any time and when a patient is in any place — whether physically or mentally — yields distress. The once-solemn handover of a cancer diagnosis from physician to patient is now preempted by a cellphone ding and a user-unfriendly app.

The “old way” was far from perfect. I learned that firsthand early in my training, when I was an internal medicine intern rotating on the leukemia service. It happened between the pair of steel airlock doors that one had to use to enter and exit the unit.