Your doctor isn’t just a health care provider. She’s also part detective, using all the clues and evidence you provide to arrive at a diagnosis and then using that determination to develop an appropriate treatment protocol. It’s not always a straightforward process, and it’s important that you provide as much information as you can to facilitate arriving at a suitable diagnosis and treatment.
[See: 10 Questions Doctors Wish Their Patients Would Ask.]
Write it Down
Before you visit your doctor, give some thought to what you’re experiencing and what information the doctor might need to know. Dr. Kecia Gaither, an OB-GYN and director of perinatal services at NYC Health+Hospitals/Lincoln in Bronx, New York, says that includes being as detailed and thorough as possible in your reporting of your medical history, surgical history and any allergies to medications. Being detailed in explaining your symptoms and how they’re impacting your life is also critical. In describing symptoms, Gaither says she likes “for patients to tell me how the symptom affects their daily activities of living. For instance, does it impair sleeping? Walking? Does it occur with eating? That type of information is helpful.”
She also suggests that patients keep a medical diary where you “can write down specifics about when a symptom occurs.” Then, bring this diary with you to help guide your doctor in the discussion of your symptoms. This way, you won’t forget what could be a critical bit of information.
Dr. Carolyn Clancy, executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, agrees that writing it all down ahead of time can be very helpful in making sure your doctor understands your medical condition. “Write down the questions and concerns you want to make sure to cover during your appointment. Make a list of problems you may be experiencing with your health. Make a list of anything that is making it hard for you to follow-through with medications, treatments or self-care. Make a list of all the medications you take, including vitamins and supplements, to bring to the visit.”
Simply knowing and being able to tell your doctor which medications you’re taking is perhaps the most important piece of information you can relay to your doctor, Gaither says. “Nothing is more frustrating to a health care provider than to have a patient talk about a ‘blue pill’ they have been taking for the last five years. There are hundreds of ‘blue pills’ out there, and that type of answer really doesn’t help the health care provider know what you may or may not be taking.” Writing down all your medications, supplements and vitamins — along with the dose and frequency with which you take them — is important to making sure you don’t run into potentially dangerous drug interactions. If these medications have been prescribed by a variety of doctors, sharing all of them with one doctor — often your primary care physician — can help that doctor better understand what conditions you’re managing and potentially streamline treatment.
[See: HIPAA: Protecting Your Health Information.]
Ask Questions
The importance of asking questions can’t be overstated in discussions of how to improve patient-doctor communications. In 2007, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the National Patient Safety Foundation developed the Ask Me 3 program to improve health care outcomes by giving patients three concrete questions to ask of their doctors when presented with a diagnosis or treatment information. The aim of these questions is to involve patients more deeply in their own care and to facilitate doctor-patient communication. The three questions are:
— What is my main problem?
— What do I need to do?
— Why is it important for me to do this?
If your doctor uses terms or jargon you don’t understand, ask for explanations. Many doctors strive to speak with patients in terms they can easily understand, but Clancy says if anything is confusing, “speak up.” And if you think something is wrong, be sure to point that out as well.
Gaither says she prefers to communicate with patients face-to-face so that questions can be asked in real time and any misunderstandings can be identified and addressed. She says speaking with patients as though they were friends or family members helps ease communication. When it comes to your health, there are no dumb questions, and the doctor, as the expert, should be able to offer answers and explanations you can understand.
Teach-Back
In addition to asking as many questions as you need to, Clancy recommends using the “teach-back” strategy to be sure you and your doctor are both on the same page regarding diagnosis and treatment protocol. “We encourage health care teams to use the ‘teach-back’ strategy, aka the Ask-Tell-Ask strategy,” in which the doctor asks “the patient to share their understanding of self-care or treatment.” If the response does not match what the doctor intended, a conversation ensues to correct “any misunderstanding or missing elements,” at which point the provider should ask again for the patient to reiterate the information and “repeat until understanding is assured,” Clancy says.
If your doctor doesn’t typically follow such a protocol, you can initiate it by asking, “Have I got this right?” and then repeating back what you understood the doctor as having said. This strategy can help clarify questions, concerns and the ongoing treatment protocol. They say the best way to learn something is to teach it, and that’s the underlying concept behind this strategy.
Be Involved With Your Care After the Appointment
Health information can sometimes be difficult for a layperson to understand, and in an effort to reduce confusion and increase health literacy, the Veterans Administration implemented a protocol called The Daily Plan. This document, which is created for each patient, “is an extracted health summary report that is printed and given to the patient and/or their family member(s) during a hospital stay or at the time of a scheduled outpatient appointment,” the VA National Center for Patient Safety reports. “TDP delineates what to expect during a medical visit,” and encourages patients to ask questions about their health care, “especially if something seems different than planned.”
[See: 14 Things You Didn’t Know About Nurses.]
Even if you’re not a veteran or seeing a doctor in the VA network, many doctors already provide patients with this sort of information. If yours doesn’t, ask for it. Being able to reference back to written information when you get home may help you stick to your treatment plan.
If you’re having trouble following your treatment protocol or self-care regimen, reach out to your doctor.
It may also help to bring a family member or trusted friend to appointments with you to serve as a second set of ears and to ask questions that may not have occurred to you. “Ask a family member or caregiver to come to your appointment to help you remember what you and your health care team discuss,” Clancy says.
Lastly, Gaither recommends being as open and honest as possible with your doctor. “Recognize that your physician is there to help you in the best manner they know how,” she says, and hiding information will only hinder your doctor’s ability to make an accurate clinical assessment.
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How to Make Sure Your Doctor Understands Your Medical Condition originally appeared on usnews.com
