‘It was daunting’: Experience of women with a diagnosis of breast cancer attending for breast imaging

Multiprovider and Patient Perspectives on Conveying Diagnostic Imaging Investigation Results in a South African Public Health Care System

“…The shift to shared responsibility for communicating results so that findings are not lost -in ether‖ (p. 854) [4] is controversial [5] because of arguments related to the organization of work and ethical, medicolegal, and training implications [3 6 7] . Mathers et al [8] call for the use of modern communication methods in a -multiprofessional, multi-departmental approach to provide timely effective standardised and seamless results giving service for all‖ (p. 162). Similarly, Smith and Gunderman [9] pose the question whether radiology department personnel (ie, radiologists, nurses, radiographers, and administrative staff) should provide diagnostic imaging study results to patients or their families.…”

“…Generally, radiographers are not allowed to discuss the results of imaging investigations with patients, which often leads to added anxiety for patients [8] . In contrast, nurses are allowed to disclose positive results to patients on instruction by medical practitioners when a clinical action is required, such as notifying the patient to make a return consultation appointment [12] .…”

“…In contrast, nurses are allowed to disclose positive results to patients on instruction by medical practitioners when a clinical action is required, such as notifying the patient to make a return consultation appointment [12] . Despite the ideal placement of radiographers and nurses to communicate and sometimes interpret the results of an investigation, the issue of their respective competencies and skills to perform these tasks still needs to be adequately addressed [8] .…”

“…Of equal importance are health professionals' expectations of who should normally communicate the results to the patient and what the patient's preference in terms of where, when, and by whom the results should be conveyed. Studies by Mathers et al [8] and Pahade et al [13] found that patients preferred to be immediately informed of the diagnostic imaging examination results by the radiologist instead of the referring clinician. However, Berlin [14] cautions that the decision to immediately communicate results to the patient should be made on a case by case basis.…”

“…How long it takes for each patient to receive the results from the medical provider depends on the workload of the radiologist and access to the picture archiving and communication system or a teleradiology system. The aim of our study was to explore the interaction processes in conveying the results of diagnostic imaging investigations from a multiprovider and patient perspective in a public hospital complex in South Africa, and to understand to what extent this represents the -seamless results‖ proposed by Mathers et al [8] . This study is one of the first to focus not only on one particular point of contact between the patient and a health care provider, but also on the interactions and communication in the natural setting between patients and providers and between different providers in the continuum of patient care that includes diagnostic imaging investigations, from admission to discharge.…”