Are You a 'Difficult' Patient?
Does your visit to the doctor's office wear everyone's patience thin? You might not be aware of some bad habits that can make your visit more painful than necessary...for both you and your doctor. After all, doctors report that 15 percent of patient visits are "difficult."
According to a Medpage/ABC News article, here are the top six bad habits you may want to check at the door when you check in:
- You + Doctor + A Crowd. Bringing a support system to the doctor's office is fine, but make sure the crowd does not hinder you and your doctor's communication and ability to discuss symptoms, results, concerns and plans.
- Withholding Information. Doctors ask questions for a reason--it is never worth the risk to lie to your doctor about anything, including what medications, herbal supplements and/or drugs you take.
- Stopping Your Meds. When it comes to medications, it's all a science...a delicate science that should never be altered without your doctor's approval. Stopping your medications, changing your prescriptions or altering your dosages are decisions that you and your doctor need to make together.
- The Easy Way Out. Doctors understand that recommendations to change lifestyle are difficult prescriptions, but achieving overall good health is entirely more beneficial than trying to treat the problems that arise from bad lifestyle habits.
- Requesting Unnecessary Drugs. According to a recent study in Archives of Internal Medicine, more than one in three doctors say that the most difficult patient is the one who insists on unnecessary drugs. Educating yourself about your health is a valuable step in forming a strong doctor-patient relationship--but stonewalling yourself against a doctor's advice can possibly negatively impact your own health.
- Demanding Unnecessary Tests. Quantity is not key in medical tests. Demanding unnecessary tests and procedures can lead to complications or poor outcomes. Instead, discuss your thoughts about additional testing with your doctor.
What do you think?
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Elizabeth has been too good to patients to limit their shortfalls to only six! If you ask a doc he will add a a few more. For example : > Collecting and acting upon insufficient info on health matters from websites. > Bragging about one's medical knowledge among other patients which demoralises or makes them over-confident/reckless thus making doctor's job more difficult > Doctor-shopping frequently. > Forgetting that a doctor also is human, needs to have time for his family and vulnerable like any of us. etc. Incidentally, I am no doctor - only a self-help group facilitator & a patient sometimes!
I've worried for a while that I am a difficult patient because I have a difficult condition, trigeminal neuralgia. My poor doctor just looks at me.
Reading these symptoms of a difficult patient -- not one relates to me. Not one. Whew. I once told my doctor, after losing 15 pounds, that I need to work as hard as he does at keeping me healthy. I thought he'd think I was being a wise mouth, but I meant it. (Sadly, those pounds have come back as my pain has worsened.)
Tere: Good for you, you have the right attitude. The key is in owning your health and maintaining a positive doctor-patient line of communication.