Creating a patient-centered imaging service: determining what patients want.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine patients' preferences for how, from whom, and how soon they receive imaging results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hard copies of our survey were randomly distributed to patients at an academic medical center outpatient imaging facility for 9 weeks, during August through October 2008, to collect data regarding patient preferences for how they received results ("Method"), from whom ("Person"), and how quickly ("Speed"). RESULTS: A total of 129 (23%) of 557 patients (47.4% male; median age, 55 years) undergoing CT (62%) and MRI (38%) completed the survey. According to survey responses, results needed to be communicated within a few hours for an "acceptable" rating from 95% of patients. Thirty-one percent preferred to receive normal results by the fastest method, whereas 35% preferred to receive abnormal results by telephone. Patients did not show an overwhelming preference regarding which physician communicates the results. More than 25% of patients were indifferent as to who was giving the results and cared only about the speed of delivery. For normal results, 12% chose from the radiologist, 41% from the referring physician, 14% from both, and 33% from whoever is faster (p < 0.0001). For abnormal results, 6% chose from the radiologist, 41% from the referring physician, 27% from both, and 26% from whoever is faster (p < 0.0002). CONCLUSION: Patients in our study wanted their results communicated much sooner than is currently practiced. Optimizing patient satisfaction may require a new communication model.