Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Manager of Marketing at T1D Exchange.
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When you get lab work done, does your T1D health care provider discuss the results with you? Cancel reply
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My endo and I go through all bloodwork. Since the endo’s office portal came online, I can see my bloodwork results prior to the appointment. This is very helpful as I have questions prepared prior to the visit.
Yes but she has never checked my feet!!!!! My pc does.
As many T1’s I have several specialists. They sometimes overlap in their request for lab work. My primary is the clearest in discussions of my lab work, while my endocrinologist is not as transparent. We of course discuss the A1c.
Usually just makes a comment about it on MyChart.
They will call if a medication needs to be changed. And the nurse practitioner will go over the results at the next appointment but if my appointment is with the doctor he does not.
We go over my A1c compaired to my TIR & average SG. Also check TSH levels every time.
Get labs at Endo office about two weeks before appointment. We always discuss results. For T1D and graves. I always have questions.
My endo has me do the labs the week before my appt with her so she can discuss all important results.
endo refuses to order labs ahead of appointment, drives me nuts! if something is out of range, he’ll send me a message about it.
The lan sends it to both of us and electronically discuss results if an appointment is too far away.
They will call me
Lab work performed after seeing doctor. Written report takes about 10 days. Doctor or nurse calls is anything is amiss.
My primary care doctor normally comments “Labs are all stable” in MyChart unless something is seriously wrong. Then she’ll call me to discuss what to do about it. I don’t recall ever discussing lab results, like A1cs, with my current endo. She focuses on actual BGs from my CGM.
I chose “Sometimes” because there is rarely anything to talk about because all the results are well within range. On the rare occasion a result is not what it should be, of course we always talk about it. My labs are done through Quest and the results are normally available online within a few days after. So, I have always looked over everything myself days before my appointment with the doctor or NP. That way I can have any questions ready to ask. Works great!!!
I am quite disciplined in terms of lab work – I go i every 3 months whether I have an upcoming appt or not. I also upload from my pump/dexcom every month and let the Endo office know the data is there is they want to take a look. I was surprised by the response were their Endo wants the lab work done after the appt. Makes no sense to me.
My endo does, but the NP I see as a primary on annual appointments only mentions results if I ask a question. I make an effort to have labs a week or less before the 90 day endo appointments so the results are available for us to discuss in person. The HMO now charges for any messages I send to healthcare staff that require time spent looking at my chart to answer. In the past I’ve used the messaging option in my chart to ask my CDE pump, CGM or insulin dosage questions or to ask the endo what labs were needed before an appointment. I won’t do that now.
MyChart messaging is email. What I wrote above was auto-corrected to my chart, not the same thing.
She has labs drawn at time of visit and posts any comments in My Chart portal. For years my labs have been and are generally pretty stable. If something is way off she will email an alert or her nurse will call me – but this has happened very rarely.
Yes she does. I did send her a message vis MyChart and haven’t gotten a reply back yet from my last lab work. I have an appointment Monday, so I hope to get my answer then.
Usually she just sends me a note saying all good or suggests a minor change to medication. I don’t sit and discuss I don’t get results until after Appt.
He only goes over my A1C and if any other readings are not within range. So, I chose “sometimes,” because he does not review everything every time.
Only the A1C
Discuss never, lecture/patronize typically