How To Get the Most Out of Each Visit to the Doctor
Hint: Do as they do
Since I became a patient, a parent, and the daughter of a woman who suffers from dementia, I have spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices. But I often struggled with getting my most important questions answered and getting the help I needed.
Because of my various caregiving responsibilities, I am on multiple listservs and email lists, including one from a website called MDLinx. This way I can set up “alerts” to receive news about the various health conditions we’re dealing with in my family.
This list also gives me articles written by and for doctors, and reading those articles has given me an “inside look” at how the modern world of medicine works.
This week the article I learned from was titled “Top Tips for Ending Office Visits On Time — Without Sacrificing Patient Care.”
Written BY a doctor FOR doctors, this article pointed out how frustrating it is when patients, who understandably don’t want to make multiple visits, often try to get multiple problems addressed during each appointment.
Which patient among us hasn’t done that? It is increasingly frustrating to schedule appointments, and when you get them, you have to schedule time away from work or school to attend them. If you live in a rural area, chances are good that you live in a healthcare desert and you have had to drive many miles to speak to any healthcare professional.
So it makes total sense that patients would try to fit a lot in.
But it is also a fact that many doctors are limited by forces outside their control to limit the time they spend with each patient during each appointment. What follows, then, is a list of the doctor’s suggestions to other doctors, and my suggestions for how patients might use this “inside knowledge” to help themselves maximize office visits.
- “Set an agenda first thing.”
Chances are that when you visit the doctor, you are doing so for a primary reason. If doctors want to set the agenda to help you but also to move quickly, YOU want to set the agenda to get your main questions answered. Be prepared for nurses and doctors to ask what your main problem is, and to describe it, briefly.
Be prepared, also, to ask the questions RELATED to your main concern, that healthcare professionals might not think to ask.
By its nature, setting an agenda means that you go in prepared. Do not trust that you will remember your questions without writing them down. Write them down! Be polite but firm when letting healthcare professionals know that, at baseline, you have several questions you need answered in order to best manage your own health.
Keep the number of questions reasonable; two to three. Leave a little room to ask follow-up questions that will arise after any physical examination you receive.
Likewise, help medical staff get to YOUR agenda as quickly as possible. Almost every appointment starts with your vitals being taken and a list of medications being confirmed. Be as cooperative as possible and have a written list of your medications along so you can quickly confirm each one as you are asked about them.
2. “Prepare a strong closing.”
In this tip, the doctor/author suggested signaling the end of an appointment with a statement such as “We only have a few minutes left, so let’s talk about any pressing issues…”
Now that you know this statement might be coming, don’t be flustered when it arrives. PAUSE. Take a moment to look over your agenda and written questions and choose the one most important thing remaining.
Healthcare professionals are mostly in the business because they want to help you. They don’t typically like being rushed either. Recognize this, and help them help you by using your last few minutes to not only hit any remaining points on your list, but also to ask what to expect in the short-term for your condition, what their best suggestion is for moving forward, and what kind of follow-up will happen. If they do not have time to answer such questions, ask if you can speak with a nurse or medical assistant or scheduler briefly, so you can, at the very least, understand the logistics of your follow-up care.
3. “Set realistic expectations for yourself.”
Doctors are people too. It might make them short-tempered if they feel they are running behind during every single workday, or if they have to work late or through lunch, often to catch up on electronic records or charting that they would have preferred to have the time to do while talking with their patients. So, yes, they will be protective of their time.
Patients need to be forgiving of their own behavior too. I have never yet left an appointment without kicking myself as soon as I got to my car when I remembered a question I had forgotten.
Realize that you may not get ALL of your questions answered. Be realistic. But take steps to learn how you can learn more. Always ask for a print-out of your visit summary and any written directions for follow-up care.
Perhaps most importantly, ALWAYS ASK at the end of an appointment if there are ways to get help other than scheduling an in-person office visit. Questions like: Does your doctor offer videoconference visits? Does your doctor offer electronic charting or a messaging system, even if you have to pay or have your insurance pay for any email or phone communications? Are you able to speak with any other professionals in their office, like nurses or medical assistants, for quick and basic follow-up questions?
Healthcare is a complex environment, for both doctors and patients. It may not always be possible to be your own best advocate, especially if you aren’t feeling well. But it may be possible to get the most out of each and every doctor visit, especially when you know how doctors are trying to do that as well.
