1936 replies to this topic

[Barrrister]

Go online and the results with a brief summary should be there. Also phone your GP and find out what is going on. You should have heard in a few weeks at most. 

[AllseeingEye]

There is no doubt those of us still with GP's have a huge advantage assuming the GP is good which mine is, in advocating for their patients as and when needed.

 

Mine pushed and prodded the specialist outfit that has performed my procedure previously going back to 2014, with a phone call and both a follow up email and fax to ensure they got moving on my booking, which was about a year overdue. For whatever reason the specialists' office simply hadn't followed up after the last time in 2018 which they are supposed to do, theoretically. I would guess between covid and workload and potentially staffing issues I simply fell through the cracks. Anyway within ten days I received a phone call from them confirming the date and that was that.

[Mike K.]

Go online and the results with a brief summary should be there. Also phone your GP and find out what is going on. You should have heard in a few weeks at most.

Oh? I didn’t even realize you could check that online.

I have no GP. Do you need a GP to access the online records?

[AllseeingEye]

Oh? I didn’t even realize you could check that online.

I have no GP. Do you need a GP to access the online records?

 

You will need your BCSC to access and login: https://www.healthgateway.gov.bc.ca/

Edited by AllseeingEye, 12 July 2023 - 01:05 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

The app is also updated quickly and efficiently as I note my VGH appointment yesterday is already recorded in the Health Gateway with this informational entry "48 hours until lab results received". On my account my medical records are displayed going back to 2007 so its quite comprehensive as well.

[Matt R.]

Mike, I don't think you'll be able to see any test results on the portal, it simply records who did what and when.  Or am I missing something?

 

ETA: I must be.  The site clearly says you can see test results, but I don't see any test results for a recent procedure.

Edited by Matt R., 12 July 2023 - 02:40 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Mike, I don't think you'll be able to see any test results on the portal, it simply records who did what and when.  Or am I missing something?

 

ETA: I must be.  The site clearly says you can see test results, but I don't see any test results for a recent procedure.

 

Matt you will if an actual test for 'x' was performed requiring physical lab analysis and results. Otherwise you are correct it will merely show a visit to Dr XYZ (presumably your doctor and presumably no tests were required and none expected) and the date. As noted above I've only been out of VGH for a little over 24 hours and my record was already updated and notated with the "48 hour..." caveat.

 

That said if you expect a test results report and its not there I would contact your GP. The system, both human and tech, is not perfect and is under tremendous strain as we all know. Data entry could be missed, a lab report misplaced etc., who knows?

 

One of the nurses yesterday mentioned for endoscope procedures alone they were running flat out and booked all day every day running three units - that's about 30 beds based on the unit I was in - to keep up with demand. I would expect the admin side to be just as swamped as the front line folks. The unit opens up at 6:45am, I arrived at 6:30 yesterday morning and was fifth in line.......

[Matt R.]

yes it was for some xrays, no news is good news but I will follow up with the GP.  I know better to wait for a call.

[Nparker]

All this talk of referrals from and follow-ups with GPs must be comforting to the 1,000,000 British Columbians who have virtually no regular access to a general practitioner.

[Mike K.]

I don’t even know who to call for the results.

Do I call RJH and ask for the MRI department? With no GP, does the result go to the last clinic I visited?

This sort of incompetence would never happen in the US.

[AllseeingEye]

All this talk of referrals from and follow-ups with GPs must be comforting to the 1,000,000 British Columbians who have virtually no regular access to a general practitioner.

 

I will be there soon enough, mine is no spring chicken and works 6 days/week. And he is well into his late 60's. I will be surprised if he's still my GP by this time next year.

 

Its a crap-shoot for sure; my sister and BIL lost their GP about 2 years ago and found out just this week they've been taken on by another in the best example of "right time, right place". Her boss and family (wife + three children) are leaving Victoria to take up a new executive post in d/t Vancouver. One thing led to another she asked him to inquire since his own GP would be down five patients as a result - and PRESTO he agreed to take on both my sister and her husband. Better than winning the lottery.....

[AllseeingEye]

I don’t even know who to call for the results.

Do I call RJH and ask for the MRI department? With no GP, does the result go to the last clinic I visited?

This sort of incompetence would never happen in the US.

 

Interesting that has not been the experience of extended family who were living in Seattle at the time. Both had employer paid health coverage (she was a regional VP for McDonald's and he was a senior manager at Microsoft at the time). When all was said and done after a serious rollover in his SUV and an extended stay in hospital to recover they still paid over $100USD out of pocket for expenses.

 

From the Commonwealth Fund, a private US foundation, commenting in 2021 on the state of US Healthcare compared to the top performing global systems:

 

The top-performing countries overall are Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia. The United States ranks last overall, despite spending far more of its gross domestic product on health care. The U.S. ranks last on access to care, administrative efficiency, equity, and health care outcomes, but second on measures of care process

 

What I would take from the above is that while US healthcare certainly invests heavily in technology and first rate diagnostic systems etc., administratively it is a colossal cluster****, cumbersome and horribly inefficient from a records and paper-keeping (especially insurance!) standpoint which were essentially the takeaways as experienced directly by the family in WA state.

 

Mike why can't you contact whichever clinic or specialist it was that performed the actual test on you, and ask them either for the results directly or at least find out from them who(m) to contact in regards? Did the Jube actually perform the MRI? If so I would certainly contact them. If their number isn't listed call the main RJH number and either follow the prompts, or speak with a rep.

 

Here is a link to the Jube MRI department which also includes a Telehealth link - check them out:

 

https://www.islandhe...medical-imaging

[Mike K.]

Thank you, I’ll check the link.

It was the RJH that did the test, requested by an ER doc at another hospital. I had to go to ER because the closest UCC was full and they directed me to a hospital ER.

[LJ]

Everyone told me the prep was awful, and maybe it was for them or maybe we have different ideas of “awful” but the whole procedure was a piece of cake and the drugs were fabulous. Ativan, fentanyl and propofol. What a great nap!

Worst part was getting Covid. Lol.

The prep drink is great if you mix enough vodka in. 

 

The last colonoscopy I had was done at a clinic in Eagle Ridge shopping centre, they didn't give me as much of a dose of drugs as I had previously had, no nap, drove myself home.

[LJ]

Thank you, I’ll check the link.

It was the RJH that did the test, requested by an ER doc at another hospital. I had to go to ER because the closest UCC was full and they directed me to a hospital ER.

The requesting doctor is the one who gets the report, and they will forward it to your family doctor if you have one.

[AllseeingEye]

Thank you, I’ll check the link.

It was the RJH that did the test, requested by an ER doc at another hospital. I had to go to ER because the closest UCC was full and they directed me to a hospital ER.

 

And therein lies the rub and the source of most patient angst of course; with so many people without a GP virtually any reason these days prompting someone to seek medical treatment - even issues that in the 'good ole days' could wait until your GP could get you in for an appointment - pretty much requires them to head to the nearest ER. Thus the huge wait times with a system clogged by many patients that don't really need the services of an ER but have no other options. I've certainly been one of the latter with an average ER wait time I would guess at 7-8 hours, the absolute worst being 10+ hours. By that point I didn't care about the system hiring more doctors I just wanted to them to install better quality seat cushions

[LJ]

You can get MRI's privately here, and schedule them at better times for you.

[Mike K.]

And therein lies the rub and the source of most patient angst of course; with so many people without a GP virtually any reason these days prompting someone to seek medical treatment - even issues that in the 'good ole days' could wait until your GP could get you in for an appointment - pretty much requires them to head to the nearest ER. Thus the huge wait times with a system clogged by many patients that don't really need the services of an ER but have no other options. I've certainly been one of the latter with an average ER wait time I would guess at 7-8 hours, the absolute worst being 10+ hours. By that point I didn't care about the system hiring more doctors I just wanted to them to install better quality seat cushions

 

A massive strain on the ER system is the drug use community. Day and day out, ambulances deliver legions of overdose victims, who recover enough to leave hospital, only to overdose and end up back in an ER over, and over again.

[Daveyboy]

^^

At least there is no stigma.......

[AllseeingEye]

A massive strain on the ER system is the drug use community. Day and day out, ambulances deliver legions of overdose victims, who recover enough to leave hospital, only to overdose and end up back in an ER over, and over again.

 

Logically that doesn't seem unreasonable, although I've been a prodigious consumer of RJH ER time and resources - eight times per my online profile - since 2021 and I will say the vast majority of folks I've seen and encountered in there are just regular folks like you and me; most there for truly legitimate reasons including the trades guy who fell two floors to the ground at a job site shattering both legs, the teen brought in by mom with a very obvious head injury, or the senior citizen complaining of chest pains. After an hour unattended due to the wait which was one of the worst I personally ever experienced there, he left RJH triage - he never actually got admitted never mind getting to the ambulatory waiting area - to go to VGH, which is quite staggering considering 'chest pains' usually get you to the head of the line, and quickly.

 

Many others OTOH, the vast majority, are plainly there because they literally have nowhere else to get treatment IOW they're among the 25% of the general population with no GP. Unless the substance abusers are all being funnelled to VGH exclusively, or its been my very good fortune to miss them altogether every single time, clearly its primarily regular people taking up the majority of ER time and resources.

 

"Repeat" addicts naturally don't help and certainly exacerbate the situation but for the most part IMO the bulk of the overwork and system strain comes from a perfect storm of poor long term public planning by both major BC parties, insufficient $ and human resources notably the aforementioned dearth of GP's, and various barriers to hiring foreign trained physicians and nurses. Talking to one of the nurses yesterday I understand much of the latter are actually federally imposed hurdles, interestingly enough, not provincial.