Quick Tips to Being a Better Patient: How to be the Patient that Doctors Love
Let's face it: most of us hate going to the doctor. We associate it with illness, injury, or as a major inconvenience. But checking up on your health every few months is NOT an inconvenience, it’s necessary! While going to the doctor is almost never fun, there are a few things you can do to make the trip a lot easier for yourself, and it’ll also make the doctor love when you come in.
Do Your Homework
Doctors tend to be busy people, and if you can do a little bit of research beforehand about the symptoms you’re having, you’ll be making both of your lives much easier, and your doctor will love you for it. Think about it, along with filling out hours of paperwork, your doctor also sees multiple patients a day. They want to figure out how to best help you as quickly as possible so that they can help the next person, and so on. By knowing what symptoms you’re having, how long you’ve had them, and the events leading up to those symptoms appearing, you’re helping the both of you. Bring a notepad in with the concerns and symptoms you have so you don’t forget about anything when it comes time to talk to your doctor. Sites like WebMD and Mayo Clinic have great symptom checkers, but make sure not to get too deep into your research; you can access your hypochondriac side very quickly because they tend to also list the extreme cases of many symptoms!
Schedule Your Appointment During Non-Peak Hours
No one likes sitting in the waiting room for hours to see their doctor. You have other things to do, and even being at the doctor’s office is the probably the last place you want to be. That’s why it’s best to schedule your appointment during non-peak hours. Never schedule your appointment on Mondays and Fridays, rather opt for the middle of the week, such as Wednesday or Thursday. Also try to stay away from coming in during the early morning hours or late afternoon hours. It’s best to schedule your appointment around 10 AM or 3 PM. Most people are at work during these times, so the waiting room should be relatively empty. Also go on to your doctor office’s website to see If you can fill out your paperwork online. Most offices should have this feature (if not, they totally should). This way, you don’t have to come in 30 minutes early and you can fill out your forms from the comfort of your own home.
Take Notes
To get the best out of your visit, make sure to take notes on everything the doctor says. Doctors generally tend to give you a lot of information, so it is best to take notes on whatever they say so you have a better understanding of what might be happening to you, or how you can stay healthy. Doctors also tend to speak super fast and use medical jargon you might not understand. It’s perfectly okay to ask them to repeat themselves. Remember, this is your health we’re talking about. You want to take every step you can to make sure you’re as healthy as possible.
Be Truthful
Let your doctor know everything that’s going on. If you can’t tell them what’s going on, they can’t help you, and even worse, they might prescribe you the wrong medication. Your doctor has probably heard it all, so there’s no need to be embarrassed. Your conversation is protected by HIPAA, so rest assured that your conversation will stay between the two of you. If you drink, smoke, or sometimes forget to take your medication, let them know. It’s absolutely vital to your health.
Ask Questions
Be sure to ask about whatever you don’t understand. If you don’t ask any questions, your doctor will assume you understand and most likely won’t elaborate. Ask about side effects of medications, implications of certain diseases, what you can do to alleviate any possible risks to your health, etc. Write these down on your notepad so you can refer to them or look up something online later. If you need more time to talk about or understand something, ask how to follow up with them at a later time. They might give you a time to call them, their email address, or get you in contact with a physician’s assistant or colleague. But they will love you for asking because you’ve made them feel like you care about your health and what they’re saying.
Doctors see hundreds of patients a month, so don’t just be another face in a sea of people who don’t care about their health. Act like you prioritize your health and what they have to say and you’ll start to have a much better relationship with your doctor where you can have an open conversation about what’s going on with you. And don’t forget to tell your doctor about BillMonkey and how we can make their practice more streamlined and you’ll get $500 if we end up doing their billing!