Medical secretaries know what they're on about, right?

You asked her to tell you the result, knowing she wasn't medically qualified. Now you're criticising her for telling you the result. The scan is normal. She's being cautious.
Honestly, you just cannot win!

Wtf is a “teenage doctor”?

So disrespectful.

Another ancient med sec here (40 years in the NHS). I did the Association of Med Secs diploma course - full time for 2 years, no less. I don't know if this course is still available but finding good medical secretaries seems almost impossible now as the ones under the age of about 40 don't have the qualification. A few do odd 10 week courses of one day a week studying terminology only. Us oldies have to train new staff on the job in reality.

My mum was a medical secretary her whole life before she retired. I swear she knows more than any GP I have done across 😂. She is pretty much bang on with most diagnoses.

Our abnormal scans are written in red and say red flag so it's very clear.

I’m a med sec…we are not supposed to give results out over the phone. I make a very big point of telling patients I am not medically trained.

Having saod that I can usually make sense of a report if that reassures you.

What do you mean they don't have to go through training? What?

I always assume the medical secretary is on top of her game, as you seem to be!

Likewise nurses tbh.
Older nurses have seen it all. A teenage doctor hasn't.

She's not supposed to tell you results.

She tried to help you by alluding to them being normal so you don't have to worry until mid next week or whenever the doctor comes back, but in a way she won't get into trouble.

People worry. She prob knows that. Worrying does us no good.

Just go with it all being fine. If the doctor tells you anything else deal with it then. But in the meantime I'd honestly assume it's all normal.

Why do you feel worse now than not knowing? Normal sounds good to me!

And she wouldn't say that if she wasn't sure but she couldn't say the result if you see what I mean.

We are not allowed to discuss results until the doctor has seen them. If a patient asks I would say "you need a routine appointment". If there is any concern whatsoever I would book an on the day call or in person appointment. We would NOT leave a patient hanging if there was anything untoward.

Mistakes can always be made but I’ve always worked in a medical background (GPS/Private clinics etc) and I’ve never told someone something that’s incorrect especially if it’s to do with a letter or report or results.

even-though she hasn’t got the certificate to say she’s qualified to tell you the results, she will see similar results every day and have a good idea of what they mean.

wishing you luck! Xx

Many/most people's spinal scans will show ageing "wear and tear" changes or discs a little out of place that are not pressing on any nerve roots and the report conclusion would mention these and say it was otherwise a normal scan.

Speaking as an ancient but still working med sec, I would tell an insistent patient if it was definitely normal. If I had any doubts or it obviously wasn't normal, I would say because I was not a doctor, I was not able to interpret it and patient must wait for doctor to see it. However, med secs no longer have proper training courses (used to be a 2-year Association of Medical Secretaries course before you were eligible to work as one) and most have not so much working experience, so would not rate them all the same as us oldies in being able to judge. Also, quite a lot are told by their consultant NOT to tell patients the result as the doctor wants to review it first, even if normal. I have been reading scan reports for a great many years.

I’d have been pretty miffed if a secretary had said that to me. It would have been better if she’d have just said the doctor will discuss the results next week.

Medical secretaries pretty much write the same letters over and over again, there aren't many possibilities.

So it sounds a lot like she was trying to say "I'm not qualified to say and I could be in trouble if I diagnosed you...but does the word 'normal' in there give you a hint?"

I'd bet my money it's good news

I can totally understand, it’s awful waiting. I have MS and although I am fortunate to have no symptoms (we caught it early and I’ve had some treatment which has been very effective for a number of years now) but I have to have annual MRIs to check for new areas of disease activity. I’m better now but the first few years the wait for the results almost killed me.

Try to think of it this way - worst case she knows nothing, in which case you have no information vs her telling you nothing. Best case she does know what she’s talking about and it’s positive. There’s no way her comment can be an indication of new negative information. Fingers crossed for you x

Whoever ordered the scan should write a letter to your GP and maybe you with the results. It could also be that the consultant reviewed the Radiologist's report and it is essentially a normal scan. Our medical team are allowed to discuss results if they are normal and no further action to take.

Yeah - it is very likely that it is normal but you shouldn’t have been told like this. Usually if it’s concerning, you’d get phoned by the GP or asked to make an urgent appointment so I’m hoping it turns out to be good news for you in that respect as it must be so worrying .