The Wise Medical Consumer: Work in Partnership With Your Doctor
The quality and the cost of medical care depend more on you than on your doctor. To become a wise medical consumer, start with three basic principles:
- Work in partnership with your doctor and health care team.
- Share in every medical decision.
- Become skilled at obtaining medical care.
By following these three principles, you will gain more control over the quality and cost of your health care than you have ever had before.
Work in Partnership With Your Doctor
Good partnerships are based on a common goal, shared effort, and good communication. If you and your doctor can make these things happen, you will both gain from the partnership. You will get better care and your doctor will practice good medicine.
Five Ways to Be a Good Partner
1. Take good care of yourself. Both you and your doctor would prefer that you don’t get sick in the first place. And if problems arise, you both want a return to good health as soon as possible.
2. At the first sign of a health problem, observe and record your symptoms. Your record of symptoms will help both you and your doctor make an accurate diagnosis. And the better job you do recording early symptoms, the better you and your doctor can manage the problem later.
- Keep written notes on the symptoms. Record when, how long, how painful, etc., for each symptom.
- Note anything unusual that might be related to the problem.
- Measure and record vital signs.
- Add regular updates and watch your progress. Are your symptoms getting better or worse?
3. Practice medical self-care at home. As the front-line partner, you can manage a lot of minor health problems on your own. Read health guidelines book, your own experience, and help from others to create a self-care plan.
- Learn all you can about the problem.
- Keep notes on your self-care plan and what you do.
- Note whether home treatment seems to help.
- Set a time to call a health professional if the problem continues
4. Prepare for office visits. Most medical appointments are scheduled for only 10 to 15 minutes. The better organized you are, the more value you can get from the visit.
- Prepare an Ask-the-Doctor Checklist
- Update and bring your list of symptoms and your self-care plan.
- Write down your main concern (chief complaint) and practice describing it. Your doctor will want to hear that first.
- Write down your hunches or fears about what is wrong. These are often helpful to your doctor.
- Write down the three questions you want answered the most. (There may not be time to ask a long list of questions.)
- Bring along a list of the medications you are taking.
5. Play an active role in the medical visit.
- State your main concern, describe your symptoms, and share your hunches and fears.
- Be honest and straightforward. Don’t hold anything back because of embarrassment. If you don’t intend to fill a prescription, say so. If you are getting alternative treatment such as acupuncture or chiropractic treatments, let your doctor know. To be a good partner, your doctor has to know what is going on.
- If your doctor prescribes a drug, test, or treatment, get more information.
- Take notes. Write down the diagnosis, the treatment and follow-up plan, and what you can do at home. Then read it back to the doctor to be sure you have it right.
