How long does your doctor take to get results of blood tests?

[Anonymous]

I had a somewhat shaky start to my pregnancy and I've had my progesterone and hcg levels monitored. Luckily, things are going well now but my doctor takes about a week to get back to me with the results of routine blood work. Is this typical? My previous ob-gyn only too 1-2 days so this just seems like a long time to wait particularly if something is wrong. I wonder if this is yet another drawback of seeing a solo practitioner.

[Anonymous]

That's typical. At least for my doctor and I don't go to a solo practitioner.

[Anonymous]

I do think this is long. Mine takes about 2 days and I'm with a big practice (in an office with about 8 docs and they have many offices in the area).

[Anonymous]

OP here--I think I'm just generally annoyed by the scheduling issues and long turnaround time of having phone calls returned, blood tests back, etc. I might try to switch to a larger practice.

[Anonymous]

If the results are normal, my doctor doesn't call me at all. But that's his stated policy.
It once took me 6 weeks (after repeated phone calls) to get blood results from Reiter Hill, so I quit the practice.

[Anonymous]

They have the results from most tests in 24 hrs. Things like cultures take several days to "grow". Some tests, like HCG, have a lab turn around of about 4-6 hrs. How long it takes them to review and respond is the variable, time consuming part. My OB with my first sucked when it came to talking about results! I asked at appointments and she would say "normal", but would never give me the actual results. I worked at LabCorp at the time, so I resorted to just walking over and asking the reps to look it up for me.

This is why I joined Kaiser. It emails me when the doc has reviewed my tests and then I have access to the sheet of results online. Stat results are available within a few hours. When I had a brain MRI, I had the results in about 15 hours. Their testing process is super streamlined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--I think I'm just generally annoyed by the scheduling issues and long turnaround time of having phone calls returned, blood tests back, etc. I might try to switch to a larger practice.

I switched from a larger practice to a solo practioner for the same reasons, scheduling and turn around time. To be honest, I think all practices (solo or not) are so over extended because of patient volume demands due to insurance issues that you have to be proactive. For instance I know the lab sends the results the next business day so I always call in the afternoon. Even if the doctor hasn't reviewed the results yet the nurses will give me the numbers. For scheduling, I just make sure I schedule things way ahead of time. When the receptionist tells me "oh you don't need to schedule that so far in advance" I just smile and say that my work calendar is so hectic that its the only way to find an appointment time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--I think I'm just generally annoyed by the scheduling issues and long turnaround time of having phone calls returned, blood tests back, etc. I might try to switch to a larger practice.

I experience all of these things too except that I'm in a big practice. It's almost impossible to get a hold of a doctor unless by e-mail and their response time varies and does not compare to an actual conversation. Also, scheduling can be a nightmare because it is so busy. It's extremely difficult to get a an U/S or OB appointment when you want one. The doctors (close to a dozen of them) are all overextended as well. My appointments are always a week or two late. Front office staff is busy and grumpy as well.

[Anonymous]

OP here--thanks, I'm a little dismayed because I called for the fourth time this week and I still did not get the results and now it is Friday and I have to wait all weekend.

I normally wouldn't be so stalkerish but I had a dip in my progesterone levels several weeks ago (I posted about this previously) and so I am anxious to see my current levels. I have had several good ultrasounds since then so everything looks good but I can't believe that the office just does not get back to me particularly b/c they have the results back but the doctor has not yet had a chance to review them. It is one thing if a pregnancy has not had any glitches but the level of stress the unresponsiveness has caused me the past several weeks is making me reconsider my ob-gyn choice (someone who is highly recommended on here but I think he is just way too overextended now).