Too many people don't know how to go about Making the Most of Doctor Visits
Though medical information has never been more accessible to consumers, many patients still don't have the skills to talk to their doctors and cram all the questions they have about their health into a brief visit. They often ignore what they don't understand, or leave delicate but important issues to the end and then run out of time. So to help patients get answers, health-care officials are offering new discussion aids, providing sample questions patients can ask, and offering advice ranging from making a list of your drugs, to starting with the biggest questions first, to checking that a doctor has your lab results before going to an appointment.
Laura Landro who writes The Informed Patient column for The Wall Street Journal has put together some good practical tips.
1. Write down questions/issues for the doctor beforehand, in order of priority.
2. If it's a diagnostic visit, prepare a detailed list of symptoms
3. Bring a list of current medications and dosages.
4. Ask for decision-support aids, and print or reliable web-based information about condition and treatments.
5. Make sure before the visit that the doctor has received test results/reports from other labs or doctors.
6. If you're unsure whether you can effectively interact with the doctor, bring a family member or friend.
7. Take notes and/or ask the doctor if you can record the session for later review.
Having watched many many people over the years from family, to friends, to patients, the one overriding factor that is never taken into consideration is:
Most people don't want to know.
They don't ask, they use the confusion, they ignore things they should tell the doctor. Why?
If the doctor doesn't know and no one tells me otherwise, this is not a problem.
This is of course from one perspective. I've also been to doctors where I feel like I have to tie them down in order to get them to stop a moment and give me information when I ask direct questions. So it can be frustrating on both ends depending on the people involved.
I have found that far too many people just don't want to know... they'd rather complain and go on as they are than question. Instead of thinking the doctors can help, the big concern is that they'll find out something bad and they just don't want to know.
Posted by: Teresa at November 2, 2007 11:23 AM