Making the Most of an Office Visit with Your Doctor
Often a patient will book an appointment with their doctor because they are experiencing pain, discomfort or nasty symptoms. Once in the doctor’s office they completely forget most of what they wanted to get across to the doctor, and before they know it they are out of the doctors surgery, still scratching their heads. It isn’t until the patient gets home when they think to themselves, ‘why didn’t I mention this particular thing to the doctor’, or ‘why didn’t I ask about that other problem that I am having.'
Be Concise and Direct in Describing Your Condition or Problem
This is a popular scenario with many patients, with the doctor discussing many things and asking a lot of questions it is easy for a patient to become side tracked and forget what they have come to the doctor for in the first place. Since doctor’s appointments aren’t cheap it is important for the patient to get across to the doctor what is bothering them the first time, rather than make multiple appointments.
Don't spend a great deal of time dillydallying about and talking about this and that which has no real bearing to the symptoms your are experiencing. As directly as you can, describe the symptoms you have been experiencing.
Prepare for Your Appointment in Advance
One of the best ways for a patient to get the most out of their doctors appointment is to prepare themselves before the visit, and have a clear objective of what they want to discuss with the doctor before actually seeing him. The easiest way to do this is by sitting down quietly before the visit and writing down each of the problems that you want to discuss, and any questions that you want to ask with your doctor on a note pad, and take the list with you to the doctors office.
Make Notes During Your Appointment
While discussing the things on the list that are bothering you, it may be a good idea to take notes on what the doctor is telling you, that way you will be able to look back on your notes later on. It is a patients right to ask as many questions as they feel necessary to understand any part of their health. Often doctors are happy to provide explanations and light reading material to assist the patient in understanding their illness or symptoms better.
Ask Appropriate Questions
Don't make small doctor with your doctor -- that is a waste of time (even if you have at least some sort of professional relationship with your doctor ... there is a time and a place for everything and a scheduled appointment is not the time for happy chit chat).
With that said, make sure that you get all of your appropriate questions asked and answered during the course of your appointment. (Again, list making is a good way to make certain that the bulk of your questions properly get addressed during the course of your appointment with your doctor.)
Be Cooperative with the Staff
Many people who visit a doctor's office are not particularly cooperative with the nurse and other staff members. A common refrain is "I will wait to tell the doctor." In fact, the nurse and other support staff are there for a reason. When they ask you questions, you need to answer them as directly and succinctly as possible.
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