The effectiveness of any health care encounter is only as good as the interaction between the people involved. Each individual’s health is a shared responsibility between the health care provider and the individual, but the only person in the health care interaction you can control is yourself.
Communicating your health care concerns is a challenging venture that needs to be mastered and is missing in the average health care encounter. Learning how to effectively communicate within the health care system can significantly enhance the quality of your health care.
Communicating with your doctor is an essential step in assuring good health. Good communication assists you in becoming an active member of your health care team and is one the most important things you can do to prevent medical errors or oversights.
Doctors can make a diagnosis a majority of the time with a good description of the current problem without fancy medical tests. Because of this most doctors say that taking a medical history is one of the most important parts of their job.
Your ability to communicate with your doctor vastly improves your health care. Consumers and doctors often rely on fancy, expensive, and sometimes risky or painful medical tests in making diagnoses instead of going back to the basics of a good history and physical exam.Talking to you doctor
Doctor's often speak over your head. Many are trained in science, as this helps them be better doctors because most of medicine is grounded in science. The art of communication is not focused on in medial school. Some doctors are excellent communicators, while others are not.
Have you ever known a doctor to interrupt you when you were telling him your story? Doctor's have an agenda and if you don't get to their agenda, they will guide the conversation to their line of questioning.
Make sure your agenda gets covered. One step to help with this is to write things down. Write down a list of questions. Make two copies – one for you and one for your doctor. Place the most important questions at the top of the list.
At the end of the appointment make sure you understand the diagnosis and treatment. This is best accomplished when you take notes during a doctor’s appointment.
You should walk out of each appointment with a diagnosis that is written down. In addition, you should walk out of any appointment with a copy of your lab results or tests. If you do not, you should have these documents mailed to you or be able to find them on your on-line medical record.
Understand your follow up. You should have an answer to all of these questions.
How long should it be until I get better? When am I supposed to follow up? Who am I supposed to follow up with and how do I make that appointment? What should I watch our in regards to a complication? What would require me to make a more rapid follow up appointment?
For more information on how to communicate with your doctor and improve the quality of your health care visit
www.mini-medicalschool.com or check out the books Cough, Sniffle, Sneeze: How to Get Optimal Health Care for Common Health Problems or Improve Your Communication: How Talking Can Improve Health Care.
Raymond Lengel, a certified family nurse practitioner, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise science, a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a Master of Science degree in nursing. His writing career includes over 80 on-line continuing education courses developed for nurses, multiple articles and nine books. He may be contacted at http://www.mini-medicalschool.com.
