How to Build a Positive and Healthy Relationship with your Doctor

Dec. 17, 2010 - PRLog -- Establishing a strong relationship with your health care provider can be tricky but once that special bond is formed, the quality of care you receive will drastically improve. We’ve all had those appointments that have left us with unanswered questions, confusion over a diagnosis and the feeling of being let down by the one individual into whom we put our trust. It’s obvious that for a doctor-patient relationship to truly have meaning – there must be a level of trust. The question is -- how do we allow our physicians to earn that trust?

The Society of Certified Senior Advisors has created a powerful ‘Doctor-Patient Relationship’ guide that will provide you with tips on how to effectively communicate with your physician – before, during and after your visit; important questions to ask during your visit; and accompanying forms that will allow you to list all of your medications, the symptoms you are experiencing and a list of health care providers who have or are currently treating you.
The purpose of this guide is meant to help you and your loved ones avoid those common ‘office visit’ issues and give you the tools to take charge of your health and create a successful relationship with your doctor. It will help you to organize your thoughts and information prior to seeing your doctor so you are better prepared to communicate not only what is important to you, but also what is significant for the doctor to know in order to provide you with the best quality of care.

Excerpts from guide, How to Get Better Healthcare:

Questions for the doctor

“The most effective way to address your concerns is to compile a list of questions before each visit"
1.  What are your medical credentials?
2.  What is your approach to end-of-life care?
3.  Who covers for the doctor in his or her absence?
4.  What is my diagnosis? How do you spell it?
5.  What are the short-term and long-term effects of this condition
6.  What are the names of the tests you will do?
7.  May I have a copy of the test results when you get them?  

Tips for Effectively Communicating
   
Before a visit:
“To provide a complete picture of your health-related life, compile these lists and give a    copy to every doctor’s office you visit”
1.  Medications you are taking
2.  Symptoms and pain you are experiencing
3.  Doctors you are seeing and their contact information
4.  Questions you may have
   
During a visit:
1.  Give the doctor’s the lists you have compiled
2.  Give information. Don’t wait to be asked. Tell the doctor everything you are thinking and feeling about your health
3.  If you need more time with the doctor but the doctor doesn’t have time at that moment, consider talking with a nurse

After a visit:
1.  Closely follow directions that your doctor gave you – for medicine, limitations on activity, exrcise, diet, etc.
2.  If your doctor or doctor’s office is not communicating with you in a timely fashion – that is a red flag
3.  If you want to get a second opinion – call another doctor

To obtain a copy of this free guide, How to Get Better Healthcare, and learn more important tips and questions to ask your healthcare provider, please visit http://www.csa.us/freeresources.

The Society of Certified Senior Advisors (SCSA) provides free resources and tools for our members as an ongoing commitment that we have in helping professionals to understand the complex and dynamic lives of modern senior citizens.

About SCSA
SCSA’s mission is to educate professionals to work more effectively with their senior clients. For those who work with seniors, this means understanding the key health, social and financial factors that are important to seniors—and how these factors work together. CSAs are able to integrate this into their professional practices, no matter what field they’re in. They’ve learned how incredibly gratifying it is to help seniors achieve their goals, and the seniors they’ve worked with have learned how important it is to work with someone who truly understands their age-related circumstances.  For more information about SCSA and its educational course, please visit www.csa.us.


Contact:
Erica Ananich, SCSA
(800) 653-1785
society@csa.us

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SCSA educates professionals to work more effectively with their senior clients. That means understanding the key health, social & financial factors that are important to seniors — so you can find success in the senior market.