As mentioned in yesterday’s netcast here are 10 steps you can take before and during your visit to improve communication with your physician:
- Think about your goals: what do you want to achieve from the visit?
- Get organized. Create a list of questions you want to ask. Bring relevant medical records.
- Research your problem to better prepare questions.
- Decide whether you want your healthcare mentor to join you.
- Answer all your physician’s questions fully.
- Tell the physician your goal(s) for the visit.
- Listen attentively to the physician and maintain eye contact.
- Repeat instructions or recommendations the physician gives you. Take notes, if necessary.
- Ask the physician to clarify anything you do not understand.
- Ask for instructions in writing.
Ruthann Russo, PhD, JD, MPH, RHIT, is a healthcare expert with more than 20 years of experience working in and advising healthcare organizations.
Comments (1)
Dear Dr. Russo — Your good advice to get it all in writing made me think of doctors' handwriting, of course!
As a handwriting improvement specialist, I get 80% of my business from hospitals that have doctors who write poorly by hand. (As you know, even in "totally computerized" hospitals, the doctors often just have the ward clerks use the computers ... with the ward clerks typing from the doctors' handwriting.) So the hospitals hire me to visit and provide brief "crash courses" for the worst-writing doctors.
In your endeavors to improve physician communication, would you like to have a handwriting specialist on file? Visit my web-site at http://www.learn.to/handwrite ... or e-mail me at handwritingrepair@gmail.com ... or phone me at 518/482-6763 (Albany, NY).
P.S. — Doctors CAN learn to write legibly! In fact, a few years ago an MD won a prize in the World Handwriting Contest which I direct.
Posted by Kate Gladstone | December 23, 2007 4:05 PM
Posted on December 23, 2007 16:05