How to talk to your Doctor?
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Helpful informatie for patients and caregivers about optimizing the relationship with their doctor.
The relationship between patients and healthcare consumers is very important. Patients and healthcare consumers are often intimidated and afraid to talk to their doctor or healthcare professional. They wonder how much they have to say when they get sick, may need treatment and how much influence they may have in making important care decisions.
These patients may not always receive the best care possible. Are you?
There is no doubt that in today’s health environment patients and healthcare consumers control their own body and the care they receive. Patients and healthcare consumers really have a choice in deciding what kinds of treatment may be necessary, what kind of medical procedures are done and what happens to them. There is, however, a major gap in how patients and healthcare consumers are deal with their care. Some are patients and healthcare consumers are confident about their care, others are more fearful and are afraid of the authority and perceived superiority of care providers.
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Assertive, confident and unsettling
On one side of the spectrum there are very assertive, confident, patients and healthcare consumers. They take charge! These patients take control because they want to know what’s going on. They understand that ‘knowledge is power’, so, collectively, these patients are trying to get to know as much as possible about their condition and the care they may need. This self-assured approach can, at times, be quite unsettling for conventional physicians and healthcare professionals, unsure about their role they play as health educators and dispensers of medical knowledge.
Many waiting rooms are now, more than ever before, filled with these highly informed patients and health care consumers seeking, not to be patients, but to become a partner with their doctors and other healthcare professionals. They want to explore all promising and possible treatments, both mainstream and alternative, and, above all, they want to connect emotionally. To many physicians and healthcare professionals, these patients seem needy, demanding, scary and often, very difficult. These patients expect a lot of attention, demand to understand the reasons why certain treatments are necessary, are often quick to question authority and battle doctors for control of their own care.
On the other hand, conventional physicians and healthcare professionals often come off as distant, gruff, haughty and even arrogant. This is one of the core problems why many assertive patients and healthcare consumers walk away from mainstream, evidence based medicine and try to find a better, more ‘emotionally’ connecting or satisfying partnership with practitioners of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM). Often they fear disapproval from their doctor and healthcare professionals so they avoid or neglect to mention that they are seeking such, less scientific, alternatives.
Less assertive: suboptimal care
This new approach to healthcare consumption can also backfire. Less assertive patients simply clam up, afraid and put off by their doctors' increasingly brusque bedside manner and frequent use of medical jargon. This leads to a suboptimal relationship between physician and patient. Quality medical care is generally the result of a good working partnership between healthcare consumer and healthcare professional.
Less assertive patients and healthcare consumers often have a suboptimal relationship with their healthcare professionals. This leads to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and missed opportunities for optimal care. Research has shown that in this scenario, where the doctor-patient relationship falls short of a mutually satisfying exchange, patients indeed fail to receive the best medical care available. Patients and healthcare professionals both benefit from developing and maintaining a mutually trusting relationship. | | |
Better communication, better quality of care
A case study at the department for heart surgery in the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Sociology of Health and Medicine in Vienna, Austria in 2001, examined the outcome of improved communication aimed at empowering patients to be more effective co-producers of recuperation after surgery (Trummer UF, Mueller UO, Nowak P, et al. Does physician-patient communication that aims at empowering patients improve clinical outcome? A case study. Patient Educ Couns. 2006 May;61(2):299-306.)
The researchers showed that better communication results in better care, a reduced length of hospital stays (on average 1 day), reduced incidence of post-surgery tachyarrhythmia (15% les), faster transfer to less intensive care levels and, ultimately, a better survival. The conclusion of these researchers was that professional communication aimed at empowering patients to act as co producers can indeed have an effect on clinical outcome. This, no doubt, suggest that staff training and reorganization of communication schemes can be an effective intervention in hospital care.
But the less assertive patient may not benefit from this research without having the tools and knowledge they need to better communicate with their physician and healthcare professional. A variety of publications (see the links on this page) may arm patients and healthcare consumers with the tools and knowledge they need to better communicate with their physicians and healthcare. Some tools may help them to gain a better understanding about how to develop and maintain a more trusting relationship. Other tools are designed to help them, how trivial this may seem for some, ask the right questions, gain better understanding about their condition and understand how to get better care. Subsequently, after the relationship between health consumers and health providers is that of equal partners, these tools may help less assertive patients and healthcare consumers asking questions about using the best evidence based medicine and find out about available complementary alternative treatments while, at the same time, helping doctors balance their skepticism of complementary and alternative approaches with open-mindedness.
Developing and maintaining trust
Patients and healthcare consumers should develop and maintain a relationship of mutual trust with their doctor or healthcare professional. It’s important that they feel that they can trust their doctor with their health, their life. Their doctor or healthcare provider on the other hand, needs to trust them in following important instructions and evidence based medical advice.
In any relationship, building a mutually trusting relationship requires good, candid and open, communication and understanding. This is also the crux in good medical care. A sound relationship between patient and physician often starts with an effective dialog. The question remains however, how can less assertive, less knowledgeable patient and healthcare consumers build and maintain a trusting relationship?
How do you talk to a doctor?
If the patient or healthcare consumer is in a relationship were the doctor or healthcare provider does all the talking while they do all the listening changes are that most information will not be understood or properly interpreted. Patients should understand that healthcare is not a one-way | | |
approach. Do they want to ask a questions but are not sure what or how? Do they leave the office feeling like they sat through a foreign language class? In all likelihood, this patient or healthcare consumer will not benefit from whatever their doctor shared with them.
A mutually trusting relationship between doctor and patient requires collaboration, plain hard work, and the sharing of information effectively. Optimal care requires communication. It also requires the physicians’ or healthcare providers’ ability to discern if the information is understood. When this process works, both patient and physician are able to make the best decisions about the care require, which will result in optimal care.
But what can a patient or health consumer do? Before visiting a doctor or healthcare provider, patients should consider asking important questions whenever they hear something they don’t understand. This will help them to understand and it will make communication more effective.
Be Prepared
Like most professionals, doctors and healthcare professionals are busy people. Their offices are often bustling with activity, ringing telephones, crying babies and demanding patients in crowded waiting rooms. So, when a patient or healthcare consumer finally sees their doctor, the actual length of their visit will probably not last more than 15 to 20 minutes. So, the best way to make the most of their limited time is to come to the appointment prepared. Most communication experts advise patients and healthcare consumers, before they visit their doctor, to:
Questions to ask a doctor
Many patients or healthcare consumers don’t know what questions the should ask their doctors about tests, surgery and other procedures, therapy and recovery, drug treatment, risk factors and lifestyle changes. There are many websites filled with questions patients and healthcare consumers should ask their doctors. Some are offered, as product support, offered by the pharmaceutical industry. Other websites are designed by patient organizations and medical societies. But most websites offer some information that can be helpful for patients and healthcare consumers ready to prepare a brief list of questions they want answered by their physician or healthcare providers. Check out sites such as:
Whatever these websites recommend in special situations, the most important questions patients can ask their doctor or healthcare provider include questions about diagnosis (What is wrong with me? How do you know? What caused this problem? Must I have tests and if so, which tests do I need and why? How invasive are these tests? Do they hurt?), treatment (What are my treatment options? What are the benefits and what are the risks? What do I do if treatment fails? ) and medication (What kind of medication do I need to take? How long do I need to take these? Are there be any side effects? Should I avoid any kind of food or activity while taking these drugs?) .
Speak-up and never hide the facts
When seeking medical or healthcare information and advice, less assertive patients and healthcare consumers are often put off or intimidated by big words, medical jargon or a doctor's impatient and rushed manner. But experts encourage patients to keep on asking questions, especially if they don’t understand what their doctor is telling them. And if they don’t understand the explanation, they should ask again and again. Often, using different words, or drawing or showing you a picture can help.
Patients should never leave the office without understanding everything the doctor has explained. But more important, if there are issues the doctor did not discuss, patients should raise these themselves.
Being busy doctors and healthcare professionals are often so focused – or rushed - on making sick people better and they may forget to talk about important health matters such as diet and weight, exercise, stress, sleep, smoking cessation, alcohol use, sexual practices, vaccines, and diagnostic tests .
Speaking up also means that patients and healthcare consumers should tell their doctor and healthcare professional everything they know about | | |
their own body and health, including potentially sensitive and embarrassing symptoms and problems. The more information patients share, the better a doctor or healthcare professional will be able to figure out what's wrong and what would be the best treatment option.
Bring a friend with You
Although not always appropriate, patients are sometimes encouraged to bring a friend or family member to the appointment for moral support. Such a companion can help the patient relax, remind them of questions to ask, and help them recall what the doctor or health professional said.
Follow Up
Patients are often anxious nervous, rushed, or plainly overwhelmed, when talking with their doctor. They may be assertive and prepared to ask the right questions, or they may be less assertive, ashamed, embarrassed and unable to talk to their physician or healthcare professional. But whatever the situation, patients or healthcare consumers should never feel bad about calling their doctor after their initial or follow-up visits to get the answers they may have forgotten or simply to ask new questions. Although they are busy professionals, caring physicians will always find the time to help their patients. They will do their best to shed the intimidating image they may at times portray, to change their medical jargon in clear and understanding language and discuss and offer the best evidence based medical care available.
Building a successful partnership between the patient and healthcare consumer and a doctor or healthcare professional takes time and effort. Although a patient may be frustrated at times, their general experience should be positive and comfortable. Patients and healthcare consumers should be confident that their physician indeed offers the best care possible. But if they feel that they cannot trust the medical ability and judgment of their doctor or healthcare professional, they should, without hesitation, entrust someone else with their care.
After all, the quality care and optimal health are too valuable to fall victim to poor communication between distrusting patients and highbrow physician.
Order Online or Order by Mail |
| | Order Toll Free 1-(800)- 497-6114 ( 9:00am / 6:00 pm Pacific Time) |