We are pleased that you trust us to provide care for your patient.  To maximize the value of your patient’s visit, it is extremely important that we have all pertinent information at the time of the visit.  In general, we find our referring physicians do an excellent job of communicating to us their specific needs vis a vis the patient’s care.  Unfortunately, we frequently spend a lot of time trying to track down information that may or may not exist based on the patient’s history, including why the patient is being seen.  It is extremely important that you tell your schedulers to have the patient contact us directly or review the patient information section of this website before their visit.  Information requests we make to your scheduler at the time the appointment is initially arranged sometimes do not get passed on to the patient, or get garbled in the translation.  This most frequently pertains to X Rays.  Patients often arrive with the assumption that their X Rays were already sent.  Without X Rays, the consultation is diminished and the patient may be subjected to repeat testing.

Here’s a short list of things that we find helpful:

• Your clinical question to us about the patient, written on a script or a referral form.  Sometimes one word and a question mark is all we need.
• Your notes about the clinical problem.  We have found that notes made or even scribbled about a patient’s clinical problem by their PCP are often helpful for a variety of reasons.  We are very interested in your impressions when the patient first presented with a complaint or finding.  
• X-Rays.  If you plan to send your patient to see us, and you think he or she might need imaging, we prefer to do that in Lexington.  Usually, we can get things done on the day of the visit with enough lead time.  We frequently receive images, especially VCUG’s, that are poorly performed.  VCUG’s are traumatic for the child, so they should be done correctly the first time.  Many small hospitals simply do not do many VCUG’s, so they cannot be expected to produce the same quality images that are available in a facility that regularly performs this study.  Ultrasounds are usually of good quality, but they sometimes do not have comprehensive views of an area of concern and therefore get repeated anyway.  If your patient has had any imaging performed, we must see the actual films when the patient is here for consultation, as well as the reports for the films.  Reports alone are not adequate as they frequently do not convey the subtleties of the study performed.
• Pertinent lab reports.  We receive our faxes electronically, and they are stored in our computer until the patient’s visit.  Only information pertinent to the visit is appreciated.