Informing patients of diagnostic mammography results: Mammographers' opinions

Purpose. The authors' purpose was to determine mammographers' practices and attitudes regarding disclosing results of diagnostic mammograms to patient s. Materials and Methods. In 1995, the authors mailed a questionnaire to 500 m embers of the Society of Breast Imaging; 399 (80%) responded to the survey. Results. Three-quarters of respondents stated that mammographers should dis close results to their patients, and approximately half were already doing so (52% for normal results, 51% for abnormal results). A sizable minority ( 25%) said that not telling patients was the best practice and identified se veral barriers to direct disclosure, including lack of time. Although bivar iate analysis showed direct disclosure to be more common among female mammo graphers, the sex difference did not persist in multivariate analysis. In b oth bivariate and multivariate analyses, reading more than 100 mammograms p er week and having a radiology practice in a university or academic setting were each strongly associated with direct disclosure. Conclusion. Implementation of the Mammography Quality Standards Reauthoriza tion Act of 1998 may not require a major change in mammographers' current p ractice. It remains critical to establish systems that help radiologists di sclose results and communicate with referring physicians efficiently and ef fectively.