Understanding that your doctor will spend only 10 or 15 minutes with you, here are some ways to handle the diagnostic process – and how you can clarify those communications by managing your own expectations, too.

When you are in the process of being diagnosed, you may be working with your family doctor or internist with whom you, hopefully, have already established a rapport – OR – you may be sent to a specialist. The usual scenario is a meeting with the doctor, a review of symptoms and some in-office testing – everything from checking your blood pressure, to drawing blood – and eventually you may even need to go for even more extensive testing such as scopes or cat scans or MRIs or even a biopsy or exploratory surgery.

Don’t just let your doctor send you for those tests without asking questions ahead of time.  Questions like, "What do you expect to find, doctor?"  Or "What are the possible findings?"

So – for example – if you are having stomach upset and a source can’t be quickly determined, your doctor may send you for endoscopy or an MRI, even an x-ray – and when she does, you need to ask her "What will this test tell us?  What are the possibilities?"

Your doctor should then share the best case scenarios, the worst case scenarios, and everything in the middle. Once you understand the doctor’s expectations, and while you are waiting for the test results, you can learn more about them either on the internet, or at the library. Being prepared with that extra information will make your follow up communication with your doctor even more productive.

Asking "what do you expect to find" is one more way of managing your own expectations to make your communication with your doctor more effective and make YOU a smarter patient.

Link here for a master list of tips in this series.

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Trisha Torrey is Every Patient’s Advocate^TM.
She offers no medical advice, but empowers those who
want to learn more about diagnosis and treatment options by
providing useful tools and resources.