Managing Our Own Patient
Expectations
(as aired on
HealthLink on
Air -- January through March
2008)
This is the 2nd tip in a
series about communicating
better with our doctors.
.................................
Understanding that
appointments will last
no more than 10 or 15
minutes, how can we
patients better communicate with
our doctors, and vice versa?
Understand that your
doctor is not the only
professional in the
office who has the
information you seek.
There are a handful of
others and sometimes
they are as good at – or
better than – your
doctor for answering
certain types of
questions.
There will likely be
a nurse or several in
the office – they will
know all the basics, so
if you have questions
about a treatment
protocol, or a certain
test you’ve been told to
get, the nurse may be
able to answer those
kinds of questions for
you.
There may be a
physician assistant or a
nurse practitioner in
the office, too. These
two professionals have
extensive training and
experience – they will
often be able to give
you more than the
basics, and in many
cases, they can
prescribe the drugs or
tests you may need – in
other words – if you can
access a physician’s
assistant or nurse
practitioner, you may
just find yourself a
goldmine of information.
When it comes to
details like insurance
or billing questions,
directions to another
facility, calendar
questions about future
appointments or a
doctor’s availability in
the office, there will
be someone who sits at a
computer who can help
you with those. I
promise you, they will
know FAR more than the
doctor, or even the
physician’s assistant OR
nurse or nurse
practitioner about those
kinds of details!
The point here is
that understanding --
and expecting -- that
your doctor’s time with
you will last no more
than 10 or 15 minutes,
you’ll be doing yourself
a big favor – and your
doctor, too – by asking
the bulk of your
questions of the other
folks in the office who
will have answers just
as useful – or even more
so – than the doctor
will. The idea here is
to reserve your precious
doctor face time for
those medical-related
questions that the
others can’t answer.
Link here for a master list
of tips in this series.
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of Columns
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Trisha Torrey is Every Patient’s
AdvocateTM.
She offers no medical advice,
but empowers those who
want to learn more about
diagnosis and treatment options
by
providing useful tools and
resources.
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