Parents of Pediatric Radiology Patients Prefer Timely Reporting and Discussing Results with Referring Providers

With the introduction of new communication channels, such as encrypted messaging and online electronic medical record patient portals, there are ever-increasing ways for patients and their families to access their medical information. While patient preferences regarding how they receive the results of their radiology examinations have been assessed in the adult population, there is limited data on parent preferences for pediatric radiology patients. The aim of this study was to determine how the parents of pediatric radiology patients prefer to receive the results of their child's imaging studies. The study design was an institutional review board-approved anonymous voluntary survey distributed to parents in a pediatric radiology waiting room. Of the current possible ways to receive radiology results, most parents preferred to receive their child's radiology results from the referring doctor (65%). A minority of parents preferred to receive the results from a radiologist in-person (16%) or via the radiology report (16%). In multiple hypothetical scenarios, parents also preferred to receive radiology results from the referring doctor rather than the radiologist, with the single exception being when no subsequent appointment with the referring doctor was planned. When asked to prioritize the most important aspect of receiving radiology test results, most parents prefer having results available quickly (65%). This survey suggests that in the pediatric radiology realm, efforts toward timely reporting will likely have a greater impact on patient satisfaction than prioritizing more in-person radiologist-patient communication.