Want Better Care When At Your Doctor's Office?

(Disclaimer, I am not offering medical advice. Only your doctor or health care provider can offer you medical advice. Nothing I am writing is to be intended as a means to treat/manage any condition) 

Do you want to know a few simple things you can do to get better care when at your doctor's office?

1) Dress Up. You don't need to be in a suit and tie or a women's business suit. Understand that the more professional you look, the more seriously, the average doctor is to take you. Think about it, would you take a doctor more seriously if he/she was in shorts and a t-shirt and flip flops at your appointment or if he/she was in a white coat and professional dress? If you are in shorts and a t-shirt, your doctor is more likely to brush aside your concerns, think you're a drug seeker, etc. Dressing up takes another 5 minutes, but it's completely worth it.

2) Ask for a copy of your records. Any time you see ANY doctor, ask for a copy of any new records (labs, scans, progress notes, etc.). They are required by law to provide you with a copy (although if you're getting your whole chart all at once, it may take a little time and they are allowed to charge you a copying fee for expenses even though most offices don't if it's just a few pages). I would suggest that you be considerate and ask for your records either at the beginning and ask if you can have a copy when you're done (to give the busy staff warning) or ask for a copy and pick it up the next day or the next time you see the doctor. When you have a copy of your records, you can simply pass it to any new doctor and speed up the process of you getting an appointment (often you can't get one until they have records) and speed up the process of helping your doctor figure out what's going on. Also, this will save you money since you won't have to have a ton of repeated labs/scans (especially the more expensive ones).

3) Prepare. You wouldn't go into a school exam without preparing, so take a little time and prepare for your appointment. Write down a few things:

A) Medications (name, dosage, how often it's taken, and why it's taken)-including all vitamins/supplements/creams/patches/over the counter drugs.

B) Chief Complaint. Essentially, why are you there? Are you there because of a headache? Are you there because your husband/wife is forcing you to go? Your knee may be hurting, but are you at the doctor to get an STD test because you think you've picked something up? Then the STD test is what you're there for (not the knee, even if you tell the nurse your knee is hurting because you're embarrassed to say you think you have an STD).

C) Symptoms. Don't you hate it when you go in to see a doctor and when you're done, you remember that you forgot to tell the doctor the most important symptoms? Well, like as above, if you only tell the doctor about your knee hurting and forget to mention the ulcer on your genitals that you're afraid may be an STD, the doctor will be checking out your knee and not know to do a pelvic exam. Thus, write down all your symptoms, when they occur, what they're like, how long they last, what makes them worse/better, if they radiate anywhere, etc. The more simplified you make it for us, the better.

4) Ask Questions. If you don't understand something, ASK. You're not unintelligent because you didn't understand the big words we just used (and no, you're not dumb because you didn't understand something that you thought you should understand). Miscommunication is a HUGE problem. Ask the doctor to repeat something if you didn't catch it the 1^st, second, or 43^rd time.

5) Speak Up. If you're not sure about something, you don't feel like your needs are being met, etc., speak up, speak up, speak up.

6) If your concerns aren't being met/addressed, consider going elsewhere. You won't necessarily feel as if each doctor is right for you. Seeking a second opinion is alright. It's your body and ultimately, you're the one who has to deal with the consequences of what happens with it.

7) Bring a copy of your records. If you get any blood work or scans done, bring a copy of each to your doctor's. Often, the labs forget to send a copy and your doctor doesn't have the labs/scans. Bring a copy and save yourself the trouble.