How do you approach patients who are inappropriately worried/fixated on a test result that is flagged as abnormal but not clinically significant?
3 Answers
Mednet Member
Primary Care · Mount Sinai Doctors Medical Group
This happens all the time now. I tell them that those results were flagged as outside the reference range (I don't use the term abnormal) but that they are not clinically significant.
It does not always work if there is a patient who is super anxious or hyper-focused. Typically, if they need a lot m...
Mednet Member
Hematology · University of Rochester Cancer Center
I emphasize that the reference range intentionally excludes normal individuals who are a little different from the average person, and that the reference range is just a numerical exercise and general guidance, not something that was ordained by higher powers. I don't use the analogy for patients, b...