During the testing process for COVID-19, we needed to become one with the Patient Portals that medical facilities make available to you to see your lab results, request a refill, etc. Doctors offices also call with lab results, so if you’re one of these people who avoid logging into to new accounts, and are satisfied with talking to someone on the phone to get your test results or order refills, then you may not have viewed how test results are presented.

In our case, they caused miscommunication and a wrong diagnosis. An easy mistake that thankfully was easy to sort out, but here is how it happened, and why it pays to stay on top of the medical professionals in your life, and trust yourself to keep pursuing what you know you need to.

The Most Obvious Word Left Out Of Positive Result: “Positive”

Nobody likes bad news. Nobody likes delivering bad news. To avoid delivering bad news, or saying “No” to someone, a person might speak around the issue, and not say the words necessary to deliver the answer clearly. Words might get hidden between the lines. In the Midwest, we call this “passive” and in some cases when you’re being critical or oppressive, this hidden language is called “passive aggression.”

Such was the case with the test results from the Urgent Care for my son. The call came in from the Urgent Care that he tested Positive, and had the virus. No phone call came for my daughter, and I was told that the office is not calling people who test Negative. I logged into both of their Patient Portals, and saw the following easy-to-read results:

“Negative” for my daughter.

“Results discussed with parent” for my son.

Dig into the results one step, and you’ll see the words “Detected” highlighted in red for the COVID-19 result. What is not stated anywhere on the page is the term “positive,” which is what most people are familiar with.

As a courtesy, our pediatrician had their nurse also call us with the results. The nurse said that my son was “Negative.” I questioned the nurse, asking where they got the information, and the answer was: “I am just the messenger.” COVID-19 is a hot potato. Understandable. I pursued, in order to find out where the miscommunication was, and it resided in the language of this lab result (see screenshots below).

In following up with the Urgent Care, it was learned that the ordering physician of the test is able to type in the brief description that appears on the Homepage/Dashboard, which is what a patient sees when refreshing the Lab Results page. The word “Positive” could have been typed in, but wasn’t. Instead, the following phrase was typed: “Results discussed with parent.” Being that it is bad news, it could have been an unintentional avoidance of the result, so that no one had to look at an unpleasant word.

Fast forward to a new test now that we are better (thank goodness!) - the Antibody test - from a different facility. Those results have appeared in my Patient Portal from another medical facility. First word in the description area: “positive” (not capitalized, for the grammar enthusiasts in the room). Clicking into the lat results, more details are discussed, and the word “positive” does appear in the details. The word “Detected” is still the lead word in defining a positive result, but in this case, was not highlighted red. Keep in mind, the word “positive” was nowhere in the positive lab result lingo for COVID-19.

In the case of the Antibody test, those antibodies are something that someone wants (though it comes with a price…the possible weakened or altered organs that the virus left behind). The word “Positive” in this case is something that you want, and was front and center in the Dashboard home page.

As we proceed with more medical tests and conversations than we are used to having in the medical world, this serves as a reminder to keep your wits about you. And as feedback to medical professionals as to how their notes are interpreted if the simple declarative words are not used.